Anger Management
by FictionalNutter
Summary: Canon-Adjacent AU starting after Mystery Spot. The Trickster decides to invest himself in saving Sam, to the younger Winchester's bewilderment. Sam's racing to save Dean from Hell, Dean's trying to make sure Sam will be okay without him, and the Trickster is determined to keep Sam from headed down the dark road awaiting him. Even if it means he has to kidnap the hunter.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**This fic is M for future events. That being said, it's also a slow burn, so there'll be a hefty dose of plot in here. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Prologue**

The Trickster scowled at the sleek black Impala as it pulled out of the parking lot. The two hunters who had originally come after him were in the front seat, and the older hunter they'd called in for help was in the back. The Trickster was arguing with himself, trying to decide why exactly he'd done what he'd done. The Trickster did not like hunters. He certainly didn't let hunters who came after him live. He especially never let them think they'd kill him so they'd leave.

What the hell was wrong with him? Surely he had a good reason for letting all three hunters escape with a sense of victory. That just did not happen. If he boiled it down to bare facts, he was left with the realization that he had just kind of liked them all. Bobby Singer was a badass, Dean Winchester had balls, and Sam Winchester was smart. Plus, both of the brothers were really hot. Maybe he'd just always had a thing for tall guys. Was he really so shallow that just liking people let them off the hook for trying to kill him?

The Trickster followed the Impala down the road invisibly, debating whether or not to just blow up the car and get it over with. At least then he could stop arguing with himself over this.

The car slowed after awhile and dropped off Bobby Singer. The Trickster studied him for a moment as the older hunter got in a rust bucket of a car, then sighed and shook his head. He respected the man, in his own way, so he could go. This time. The Trickster tried to add the addendum to the end of his free pass for the hunter, but realized he lacked conviction. He just kind of liked the guy.

His attention went back to the Impala, where Sam and Dean were bickering over a road map. For some reason, he found it almost endearing that their brotherly bickering wasn't limited to him screwing with their stuff. They could act like brats with each other without his help. Dean tore the map out of Sam's hands, muttering something about incompetent shotguns, and Sam almost fell forward trying to get it back, his hair flopping in his face.

The Trickster sighed dramatically and turned away. No, he wasn't going to kill them. Much as he might hate to admit it, he did like the boys. It might even be worth his while to keep an eye on them.

* * *

**Chapter 1 - You're An Idiot**

This time, The Trickster was furious. All of that planning, all of his good intentions, all of that effort, wasted! All because Sam Winchester was the most codependent human being on the face of the planet.

The Impala was pulling out of the motel parking lot - Dean hadn't gotten shot this time around - and The Trickster could see that Dean was driving, but Sam was watching him like a hawk, as if he expected his brother to spontaneously combust.

The Trickster sighed. Did Sam really believe he was that untrustworthy? Add that to the list of reasons to be irritated with the idiotic human. He decided to follow them for awhile and see if maybe his lessons had been more helpful than he realized. Maybe Sam had learned something, although he really doubted it.

In the car, Dean was squirming uncomfortably under Sam's heavy stare. "What, dude?" He finally complained, flashing his eyes to Sam with irritation.

"Nothing, keep your eyes on the road," Sam rebuked him, tension rolling off him in waves.

"Are you still stuck on the Tuesday thing?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes.

Sam snorted low under his breath. "Yeah, you could say that." It was less the 'Tuesday thing' and more the 'six months after Dean died on Wednesday thing.' Either way, he didn't trust that The Trickster would just let them go again. Once was weird; twice was too much.

"I'm not going to crash the car, Sam. Relax." Dean shifted again, still feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of Sam's presence.

Rather than argue, Sam just sat back in the seat, breathing deeply and trying to find a way to keep his eyes on Dean without creeping his older brother out. He didn't see himself relaxing from this little adventure any time soon. He was momentarily distracted by the little ringing notification on his phone that indicated a text message. Pulling it out of his pocket, he scowled quizzically at the new contact he knew he'd never added - tr1xtr. Well, three guesses and two don't count who that was. Apparently monsters were texting him now.

tr1xtr:/ You're an idiot.

Sam Winchester:/ You're a sadist. Why are you texting me?

The Trickster smirked at the phone he'd pulled into existence, somewhat pleased that Sam was actually responding. He knew he was way too focused on the hunter, but The Trickster had never invested this much time into teaching someone a lesson, then let them walk away from it without learning something just because they begged. Sam Winchester may have had some serious puppy dog eyes, but that wasn't it. At least, not entirely.

tr1xtr:/ Because you're an idiot. Which stinks, because you're a freaking genius.

Maybe if he shot for complementary, he'd actually do okay with this. Not that he really had an endgame in mind yet. For whatever reason, he just really wanted to make sure Sam was okay after Dean was gone. There was kind of a sick and twisted path waiting for the poor kid, and The Trickster was weirdly invested in trying to steer Sam away from it. He wasn't sure why yet.

Sam Winchester:/ I'm really not sure how to take that.

"Who's texting?" Dean asked, risking a glance at Sam, who seemed to have relaxed fractionally.

"Nobody," Sam replied, his tone irritated.

"Uh-huh." Obviously it was somebody, but if Sam didn't feel like sharing, Dean wasn't going to press it. Not now at least. With the limited time he had left, he'd really rather not fight.

tr1xtr:/ Take it for what it is, kiddo. You're smart enough that you should know better.

Sam scowled at his phone, not sure where the Trickster was going with this. Why the hell was he even texting the monster back, anyway? All he was was some freak's entertainment. Despite that, Sam found himself replying anyway.

Sam Winchester:/ I'll bite. Know better about what?

The Trickster rolled his eyes. Maybe Sam was a little dim after all. Had he learned nothing? Actually, that was a good question.

tr1xtr:/ What, didn't I teach you anything?

Sam Winchester:/ Nothing I didn't already know. You're an asshole and I'm going to be miserable if I can't save Dean.

The Trickster groaned and almost threw the phone away. Sam Winchester really was an idiot.

tr1xtr:/ Not if. He's going to die, and you're going to spiral unless you get over this codependency thing now.

Sam Winchester:/ Why do you even care?

That was the real question. Sam stared at his phone, waiting for the reply. Really, why did the Trickster even care about how Sam responded to Dean's death? Why had he let them go the first time they met? Why was he letting them go this time? Why was he freaking texting Sam to try and get his point across?

tr1xtr:/ Not sure.

Right, because that was an answer. Sam decided that was enough texting for now and put the phone back in his pocket.

"You all right?" Dean asked, taking his eyes off the highway again.

Sam shifted awkwardly and sighed, feeling drained. "Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered.

Dean knew that wasn't true, but wasn't sure what exactly he could do about it. Sam hadn't told him everything, he was sure of that, but he did know that somehow Sam had managed to live through one hundred consecutive days of Dean dying, and hadn't been able to stop it. Dean knew that if their roles had been reversed, he would be a wreck right now. The fact that Sam wasn't curled up in the fetal position sobbing was impressive as far as Dean was concerned.

Aware that Dean was still giving him a concerned look, Sam sighed again and sat up straighter in the seat. "Seriously, Dean, I'm fine. I'm just tired, I guess."

"Well, rest easy," Dean told him. "Today's Wednesday, and tomorrow's Thursday."

"That'd be nice," Sam replied wryly, running a hand through his hair absentmindedly.

Cycling through options of 'nice things to do for Sam,' Dean settled for offering, "You want to pick the music?"

Sam eyed him skeptically, then shrugged. "Anything but Asia. Or Huey Lewis."

"What've you got against Huey Lewis?" Dean asked, bewildered. The band had been on their radio this morning, if he was remembering that right, but he didn't understand why Sam had a problem with that. Asia he understood perfectly, and he would find a way to make sure Sam never had to hear the song again if he could help it. He understood bad memories and triggers.

"Just, no Huey Lewis, Dean," was all Sam said.

"All right, whatever you say." Dean reached into a door pocket and rustled around for a moment, coming back up with an Alice Cooper cassette. "This good?" He held it up for approval.

Sam wrinkled his nose, but let a small smile cross his face and he nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."

Dean popped the tape into the player, setting the volume at a reasonable level. He was completely aware that he was treading on eggshells around Sam, but he figured that his little brother needed a little TLC at the moment. They could get back to normal soon, but for now it was time to be careful.

The Trickster continued watching, not really sure why he was still following the Impala. He was very curious about the fact that Sam hadn't told Dean that he'd already had six months without him. Presumably Sam didn't want Dean to worry about him more than he already was, which was pretty self-sacrificing and well within the range of normal for Winchesters, at least from what the Trickster had observed.

Sam looked like he was trying to get a nap, zoning out as best as he could from the rock music. Dean was singing along, badly, and casting concerned looks sideways at Sam every few minutes, as though not sure what to do about his brother.

In some ways, the Trickster could feel a little bit guilty. Not that he wasn't totally and justifiably in the right here, but he may have been a bit overzealous in his attempts to play teacher. Then again, he'd never tried to teach someone a lesson for their own benefit before. It was usually a pretty formulaic job, being a trickster. Identify a jerk, figure out if said jerk needs to pay for his crimes through humiliation or death, then mete out an appropriately creative punishment. It wasn't hard. Sam, on the other hand, wasn't a jerk. He had a lot going for him, and the Trickster was forced to admit that he liked the guy. The Trickster didn't try to teach lessons to people he liked, because that was cruel. Maybe that was his problem. He'd applied a system designed for jerks to the one human he actually thought was all right. No wonder Sam was bitter. Well, the hunter would have to suck it up. The Trickster wasn't giving up on this without a fight. One way or another, Sam was going to see that he was headed down a path of destruction, and the Trickster would get him to course correct. He might have to find more friendly ways of helping though, or nothing would ever happen.

tr1xtr:/ Just so you know, I'm not giving up. I promise not to kill Dean again. Or you, for that matter.

Satisfied, the Trickster drifted after the Impala lazily, waiting for a response.

Sam felt his phone buzz again in his pocket, but he ignored it. The Trickster could wait. Sam was still trying to decide if he could let himself believe Dean wasn't going to die today. It was too much to have to deal with a texting trickster too.

The Trickster watched as Sam ignored his phone, but didn't dwell too much on it. It made sense that Sam would need some time. The Trickster had time. Dean didn't, which could be a problem, but ultimately, the Trickster's focus was Sam. Dean was a goner, but he might still have a chance to save Sam.

If only he could figure out why the hell he cared in the first place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

**A new chapter already! Don't get too used to it, I'll typically update about once a week, but when I have the inspiration, out it comes!**

**Thanks to anna3311234 and Sam is Unamoosed for their reviews on chapter 1!**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Grudging Acceptence**

Sam wasn't going to admit it, but he was getting used to being texted by the Trickster. Weirdly enough, when the guy wasn't berating him for his alleged codependency issues, he was almost helpful.

There had been the miraculous extra salt Sam had needed when they were trapped in the jail with a demon army bearing down on them. Sam didn't know why the Trickster had decided to throw him a bone, but he appreciated it.

Then there had been the werewolf hunt where Sam's silver knife had somehow appeared in his hand at just the right moment. Even Dean had noticed that, but he had chalked it up to Sam having faster reflexes than he gave him credit for. Sam just let him believe it. It was better than explaining that they were apparently being stalked by the Trickster. At least, he was being stalked. The Trickster didn't seem to care about Dean.

Well, it might not have been a lack of caring so much as a sense of inevitability. After many conversations and several more instances of the stuff he needed just appearing within reach, Sam was forced to admit that for some reason, the Trickster was trying to protect him. How the hell killing Dean a hundred times fit into that was still beyond his comprehension, but everything else the guy had done since then was specifically to help Sam.

There were also the times when the Trickster was just himself though, all humor and jokes with no seriousness at all. Sam's confirmation that the Trickster was indeed following them was the fact that as soon as they left the Ghostfacers (who he'd be quite happy to never run into again, to be honest) his phone rang with a text.

tr1xtr:/ Those guys are awesome! :D I think you should let them hunt with you.

Sam Winchester:/ No way in hell.

Apparently the Trickster had watched the entire escapade from start to finish, because he texted Sam about the parts he found amusing for almost a week afterwards. Sam found it irritating at first, but eventually gave in and found the humor in the situation. It wasn't like he and Dean hadn't had fun at the Ghostfacers' expense before, it just seemed different this time. For whatever reason, the Trickster was able to make him laugh.

They had also stopped talking about Dean entirely. At first, Sam had tried to milk his apparent attachment to the Trickster for help saving Dean, but the Trickster had informed him that he couldn't do anything about it. Sam had assumed he was lying, and continued to press the issue, until the Trickster finally told him flat out that there was literally nothing he could do to save Dean. Sam had to wonder if that's why he was the Trickster's focus. He wasn't doomed to Hell. Not in only a few months, at least. Sam was pretty sure his soul was earmarked for Hell one way or another, but that wasn't a conversation he'd had with anyone.

Sam still wanted to save Dean more than anything, but he was starting to lose hope. Dean's primary focus seemed to be on making sure Sam remained functional and non-suicidal after he was gone, so Sam did his best to make his brother happy. Regardless of how much of a wreck he was going to be after Dean died - again - he knew it wasn't a good idea to let Dean see that.

They were still hunting like normal, everything from demonic activity to vampires to spirits. They found themselves in Indianapolis hunting down a spirit a week or two after the Ghostfacers incident, and they almost got lost in the normality of it all. Just two brothers hunting a vengeful spirit that was attacking adolescents. It was what they'd always done. Except this time, one brother was running out of time before he got dragged to Hell, and one brother was texting a trickster in his free time. That part wasn't normal at all.

tr1xtr:/ Why are you guys so slow? The bones are in the church crypt. Burn them already! This case is boring.

Sam rolled his eyes at the text. He was learning the Trickster pretty well at this point, and it had been clear early on that the guy had the attention span of a goldfish.

Sam Winchester:/ We're not lighting a fire in a crypt in the middle of the day. We're going tonight, so relax. Where are you, anyway?

tr1xtr:/ Watching from my fortress of solitude in the arctic. Why, did you want me to pay you a visit?

Sam Winchester:/ God no, we don't need any rogue elements.

Sam wouldn't put it past the Trickster to actually have a replica of Superman's fortress, or at least be able to create one out of thin air if he wanted. Part of Sam had to admit that that was pretty cool.

tr1xtr:/ Spoil sport. I'll just watch, then.

Sam Winchester:/ Knock yourself out.

tr1xtr:/ Any chance I can convince you to go for something a little more interesting next time?

Sam Winchester:/ We go where the work is.

tr1xtr:/ So if I know about something interesting, you'd go check it out?

Sam Winchester:/ Maybe. It really depends, since the info's coming from you.

tr1xtr:/ Sammy, I'm hurt! Don't you trust me?

Sam Winchester:/ You want me to answer that?

tr1xtr:/ Fine. Check with big bro and let me know if souls being sucked out is up your alley.

Sam Winchester:/ Wait, what?

tr1xtr:/ Well I can't tell you everything, it's your job to figure it out.

Sam Winchester:/ Fine. I'll think about it.

tr1xtr:/ Great. See you in Ohio.

The salt and burn went about as well as could be expected, and the brothers headed back on the road with little delay. To Sam's relief, he didn't have to bring up the fact that he got a case from his mysterious texting buddy, because Bobby called and told them about it himself. He and Dean fought about it, but that's nothing new. Sam would rather try and get Dean out of his deal, but that's staring to feel like it's impossible. Not even Ruby can help, apparently.

The brothers drove towards Ohio, Sam fiddling with his phone in the passenger seat. When it buzzed, he glanced down at it with mild interest. The Trickster had probably listened to their argument.

tr1xtr:/ You're not going to listen to me, so I don't know why I bother, but stay away from Ruby. She's bad news.

Sam scowled at his phone. Ruby had been pretty helpful in the past, and Sam was sick and tired of everyone assuming she was automatically an enemy.

Sam Winchester:/ Mind your own business.

tr1xtr:/ Shocker. Didn't see that response coming.

Sam couldn't conjure up enough irritation to be mad about the response, but he shut his phone anyway. He may have grudgingly accepted the presence of a trickster in his life, albeit invisibly, but that didn't mean he had to like it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

**I'm so happy everybody is already excited about this story! I have a lot of inspiration for this one, so I'll hopefully be able to update pretty regularly, time willing.**

**This is a happy chapter because I've almost reached the end of season 3, so you all know what's coming next. I apologize in advance for chapter 4.**

**Thanks to anna3311234, Akira, yuffb, castasticbutt, lipstick lulluby, and one guest for their reviews on chapter 2!**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Well, How About That?**

Sam relished the chance to get out of the car and stretch his legs for a minute, but he was mostly just glad to get a short reprieve from Dean's brooding silence. Sam was still in the doghouse for his stunt with the zombie doctor guy, and Dean was doing his best to not act like he was mourning Bela, even though it was obvious that her death had shaken him.

What was worse was that Dean's deadline was coming up, and Sam was pretty damn desperate at this point. Ruby wasn't being any help at all, although Sam wasn't sure if she was being stubborn or just really couldn't help. Dean had become overly closed off on the subject, seeming to view any attempt to broach the topic as an indication that Sam was revving up to do something stupid that would get him killed.

Then there was the Trickster, who had somehow managed to become the only person Sam could get along with for longer than about fifteen minutes these days.

Right on cue, Sam's cell phone chirped with a message.

tr1xtr:/ You guys are like two blocks over from the best ice cream in the state! You have to go. I swear, it's worth it.

Sam had to smile. Even when he and Dean weren't talking about Dean's deal, the topic was lurking there underneath ever silence or generic conversation. With the Trickster though, he just genuinely thought that Sam needed to try this particular ice cream. Somehow, that was exactly what Sam needed, even though he'd have never thought to ask for it.

Sam Winchester:/ I don't think either of us are really in the mood for ice cream.

tr1xtr:/ No such thing. I not above trapping you in a real life version of CandyLand.

Dean emerged from the gas station to find Sam chuckling to himself as he read something off his phone. "Who're you texting?" He asked out of habit. He wasn't expecting an answer at this point.

"A friend," Sam replied before he could catch himself.

Dean raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond. Sam could have his secrets. Besides, Dean knew he wasn't texting Ruby, and that's who he was really worried about. Ruby never made Sam laugh or smile the way the mystery texting buddy did, so Dean had decided not to worry about it.

tr1xtr:/ Why Sammy Winchester, did you just call me your friend?

Sam Winchester:/ Yeah, well, don't let it go to your head.

tr1xtr:/ As your friend, my threat to you still stands unless you go get ice cream.

Sam Winchester:/ I'm not sure most friends threaten each other with mental trauma over snack food.

tr1xtr:/ Then most friends are doing it wrong.

Sam huffed a laugh as he wedged himself back into the Impala, ignoring Dean's curious glance. He paused for a moment, then sighed and glanced at his brother. "Okay, so apparently there's this amazing ice cream place like two blocks from here."

Dean's eyebrows skyrocketed, and he gave his little brother a skeptical look. "Ice cream, Sam? Seriously?"

"Look at it this way - when was the last time we did something fun?" Sam offered. The unspoken question underneath was, "When will be the last time we get to do something fun?" Both of them knew that time was soon.

"Yeah, all right. Ice cream. Sure. Nothing pink, though," Dean muttered, revving the engine and pulling out of the parking lot.

tr1xtr:/ See? Everyone loves ice cream!

As it happened, the ice cream place was pretty amazing. Sam got a mix of berry ice creams with fresh strawberries and blueberries on top, and had to restrain himself from making orgasmic noises while he ate. Dean, however, had no such inhibitions, and was very vocal about his appreciation for the whisky ice cream he'd been delighted to find.

"God, Sam, this is amazing," Dean enthused. "Why don't we get ice cream more often?"

Sam snorted at him, but had to agree. It had been worth the stop.

tr1xtr:/ So? Was I right or was I right?

Sam Winchester:/ Stop gloating. You were right, it's amazing.

tr1xtr:/ You really shouldn't need to be threatened in order to go out for ice cream.

Sam Winchester:/ Fun isn't really something in our repertoire.

tr1xtr:/ Remind me to fix that.

Sam Winchester:/ Hey, can I ask you something? You know, now that we're friends and all?

The Trickster looked down at his phone with a raised eyebrow. Sam usually wasn't all that shy about telling the Trickster exactly what he thought, so the fact that he was asking if it was okay to ask this particular question was curious, to say the least.

tr1xtr:/ Yes, aliens helped build the pyramids.

Maybe deflecting him wasn't the best option, but the Trickster had found that serious questions with Sam always led into territory the Trickster couldn't enter. Like, saving Dean, or quitting his day job.

Sam Winchester:/ We're so coming back to that later, but I'm serious, I have a legit question.

tr1xtr:/ Fine, shoot.

If the question was about whether or not their budding friendship changed his ability to save Dean, the Trickster was going to be disappointed.

Sam Winchester:/ Do you have a name? Like, a real name? The Trickster is more like a title. I figured, friends know each other's names, right?

The Trickster was surprised, and he gaped at his phone a little. Well, that really wasn't where he'd expected that to go. Well, names for him were tricky. He'd gone by a bunch over the years, but there were only two that he considered to truly be a part of himself, and one was enough of a secret that he definitely couldn't just hand it over to a Winchester. The other though, that he was willing to give up. He and Sam were friends, after all, and he wasn't expecting the hunter to try and execute him at this point.

Almost twenty minutes went by before Sam's phone chirped again, and by then he'd almost completely given up on getting an answer. It had been kind of a shot in the dark in the first place anyway.

tr1xtr:/ Most people call me Loki.

Sam Winchester:/ OH MY GOD.

tr1xtr:/ Well, technically, but most of the others don't like to include me in their little circles.

Sam Winchester:/ You're serious?

tr1xtr:/ Careful there, Sasquatch, don't have a nerdgasm.

Sam Winchester:/ Bite me.

tr1xtr:/ Don't tempt me.

Sam Winchester:/ You're really serious?

tr1xtr:/ Do you need me to manifest in my full "bow down and worship me" gear or something? Cause that stuff is heavy.

Sam Winchester:/ I'm good. So, you like know all of the other gods?

tr1xtr:/ Know them, yes. Get along with them, not usually.

Sam Winchester:/ Thor?

tr1xtr:/ Big muscled guy with more hair than you and an unhealthy hammer fetish? Yeah, I know him. We don't get along.

Sam Winchester:/ OH MY GOD.

tr1xtr:/ So are you going to be like interviewing me from now on?

Sam Winchester:/ You just told me you're the Norse god of mischief. How did you think I'd react?

tr1xtr:/ Fair enough.

Sam Winchester:/ So if you're a god, why are you running around doing typical trickster stuff?

tr1xtr:/ More fun. Besides, being a god is mostly about upper level management, which I am sooo not cut out for.

Sam Winchester:/ This is in the top ten weirdest conversations I've ever had.

tr1xtr:/ How does texting me about the gods I know not make number one?

Sam Winchester:/ There was this one siren when I was a teenager that appeared to me in the form of Shaun Cassidy and tried to serenade me with 80's hits.

tr1xtr:/ I'm so filing that away for future use.

Sam Winchester:/ I really shouldn't be giving you ideas.

tr1xtr:/ Why not? I appreciate the creative input.

Sam Winchester:/ You're impossible.

tr1xtr:/ What, is that news?

Sam Winchester:/ I guess not. It's nice to meet you, Loki.

tr1xtr:/ Likewise, Samsquatch.

Sam chuckled again as he switched screens on his phone, pulling up his contacts and hitting edit on the one labeled "tr1xtr." With a few quick button clicks, he had successfully re-saved the contact as Loki. Because his life was weird like that, and he could apparently be good friends with a Norse god.

Dean had long since tuned out Sam's typing thumbs and apparent amusement. If anything, he'd like to extend a personal thank you to whoever was on the other end of the conversation. Sam didn't smile much as it was, and Dean knew that it was about to get a hell of a lot worse. Maybe if Sam had a friend, whoever it was, they could keep him safe after Dean couldn't do it anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

**New chapter! Don't get spoiled, I just have time to write today, hence the quick update. **

**Thanks to anna3311234, yuffb, SweetScarlett97, FireChildSyltherin5, and KnitASpell for their reviews on chapter 3!**

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Hell's Snarling Teeth**

One last ditch effort to save Dean, that had been the plan. If they could just get Lilith, they could save him, Sam had been sure of it. Ruby had said he could use his psychic powers to save him, but Dean was adamant that Sam not tap into whatever abilities he had. Instead, they had stolen Ruby's knife and made off to find Lilith themselves, Bobby in tow.

Lilith was terrorizing a family by possessing a young girl, as if Sam needed another reason to want the demon dead. Dean had developed the ability to see the true faces of demons, which Bobby had told them was apparently normal for someone about to go to Hell. It wasn't exactly reassuring, but it was handy.

Then Lilith had been inside of Ruby's host, the demon who'd been helping them long gone. She'd taunted them and mocked them, then held Sam back as Dean was torn to shreds by the invisible hellhounds. Sam wasn't sure he'd ever screamed that much or that loudly in his entire life. Lilith had tried to kill him too, but somehow he'd stopped her. He didn't have the presence of mind to dwell on that though. Instead, he had barely managed to reach his dead brother's body, sobbing over the still form in his arms.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, but Sam ignored it. Whatever Loki had to say, it couldn't fix this. The fact that they were friends wasn't important anymore. The only thing that mattered was making sure Lilith died. No matter what he had to do, that was Sam's mission now, even if he died in the process. He was going to Hell himself one day, he was sure of it, and maybe if he was able to take Lilith out he could be with Dean, and tell him that he'd avenged him. He wasn't sure Hell worked like that, but he wasn't particularly rational at the moment.

The next few days were a muted blur for Sam, and he couldn't decide if he was sludging through or sinking. He dimly remembered arguing with Bobby over what to do with the body - Sam insisted on burying his brother, just in case he was able to save him - and winning the argument. Then had been the actual burial, which was a memory he could have gone without. Burning Dad's body had been bad, but burying Dean was infinitely worse. Somehow, Sam had managed to hold it together. He could feel it happening to himself, the single focus taking over and making him strong like steel. It had happened last time Dean died, when he had gone after Loki.

Sam had left Bobby as soon as he could without making the old hunter more concerned about him than he already was. The motel room he'd checked into was just like every other motel room he'd ever stayed in with Dean, and he tried as hard as he could to keep that thought out of his mind. It was then that he remembered the text from Loki, which he'd never actually checked. Reluctantly, he flipped his phone open and pulled up his messages.

Loki:/ I'm sorry, kiddo.

Sam snorted out loud. Right, sorry. He put his phone away. Friends were a luxury he couldn't afford anymore. He had two goals now. The first was to save Dean, no matter what. Failing that, he planned to end Lilith, no matter what the cost. He would focus on saving Dean first though, because if he got his brother back, he knew that would save him from falling into the darkness that had swallowed him before. He could already feel it encroaching.

Loki wasn't surprised that Sam didn't respond to his text. He hadn't really been expecting him to. He was concerned about him though, and he felt justified in that concern. He'd seen how Sam got last time, during their Mystery Spot encounter, and he knew that Sam had never learned his lesson. If he had, then he wouldn't be at risk of falling into the black again. Well, it wasn't Loki's game this time. It wasn't up to him to intervene and end the lesson this time, because this time it wasn't a torment of his own making. This time, Sam was really alone, and he was choosing to stay that way. Loki would respect that, for now. He would be keeping watch though. For whatever reason, he did actually care about Sam, which meant making sure the hunter didn't get himself killed. Or worse. Sam was in more danger than he probably realized.

It took Sam all of a day to go to crossroads demon, which really shouldn't have surprised Loki. It did make him angry though, and he considered visiting the hunter to knock some sense into him. He might have done it anyway, except that it wouldn't have helped. The demon turned Sam down anyway. Loki could see the hunter's thoughts as clearly as if they were written on his face. Sam thought he wasn't worth enough to save Dean because he was hellbound anyway. That made Loki want to get involved more than anything else, but still he held back. So far, Sam was spiraling, but not as bad as he could be. Loki knew what trials awaited Sam, and they were a lot more concerning than depression and recklessness.

Another week went by, and Sam went back to hunting, but he stuck exclusively to demons. He tortured them for information, then killed them. He ignored Bobby's calls, and he never even glanced at his text inbox. For all Loki knew, Sam hadn't even thought about him since checking his text from the night Dean died. The concerning thing was that Sam was so focused that he did everything clinically, with no sign of life. Loki had seen him like that before, but his focus had been on teaching Sam a lesson. This time, what he saw genuinely worried him. Sam had always been a focused and driven person, but he had had a significant spark of life in him too. That was gone, and Loki wanted it back.

The last straw was actually a combination of events. First, Sam almost died in a demon ambush in a warehouse. Second, Sam fell into another demon trap, and if he hadn't barely escaped, Loki would have intervened. It was recklessness to the extreme, and Sam was acting less and less focused and driven, and more and more suicidal in his actions. Loki wasn't sure if was doing it on purpose, or if he was just losing his will. The final event was that Loki found out that Ruby was back and looking for Sam. She was orchestrating the demon ambushes that he was barely escaping with his life. That was it for Loki. He knew exactly what Ruby's game was, and he's already tried to warn Sam. If she got back into his life, he'd be lost to her clutches and Loki would probably lose all hope of ever saving the hunter.

That was when Loki made the decision. Dean had been dead for nearly three weeks, and things were about to get a hell of a lot worse for Sam if Loki didn't do something. He'd already put a lot of effort into keeping the hunter away from the path he was headed down, and he'd be damned if he was going to give up now. Ruby could go screw herself. He was going to save Sam before she got anywhere near him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

**You guys are amazing! I love how supportive everyone is so far. We're done with the season 3 coverage now, so the foreseeable future will be covering the months between season 3 and 4, just for everyone's reference.**

**Thanks to thornybrose, yuffb, FireChildSyltherin5, libstick lullaby, robby1925, and shahenaaz08 for their reviews on chapter 4!**

* * *

**Chapter 5 - It's Time For Therapy**

Sam had double checked the omens and triple checked his gear. He was set. He'd had several close calls recently, but he wasn't concerned. The demons that were plaguing the rural part of Nevada he'd found himself in were soon to be a thing of the past. It was really too stereotypical for them to be holing up in a warehouse, but who was Sam to criticize the classics?

Sam walked the last few blocks to the warehouse, since the Impala made an ungodly amount of noise that any demon would hear coming. He slipped in the side door of the warehouse, Ruby's knife in hand and a skein of holy water within reach. He moved silently around a corner, expecting to find the main room of the warehouse.

Instead, Sam walked right into a brightly lit psychiatrist's office, complete with motivational posters on the walls and one of those long couches you'd see in the movies, where the patient would lay back and talk about their issues. "The hell?" Sam muttered. Were demons trying to screw with him even more than usual?

"Welcome to anger management, Sammy," Loki announced. "Have a seat." He took a seat himself in the comfortable looking armchair, a pad and pen appearing in his hands.

Sam immediately tensed, scowling at the trickster he's managed to become friends with. They hadn't seen each other face-to-face since Sam had begged for Dean's life, and Sam wasn't really in the mood to deal with him in his life again. "What the hell do you want, Loki?" He asked in a monotone, his voice devoid of interest.

"For you to live, preferably," Loki replied easily. "Sit. Put away the demon hunting crap too. I already took care of them for you."

"There were actual demons here?" Sam double checked. He put his things away anyway, figuring that they wouldn't do much to lessen his irritation with the trickster.

"Yeah, another present from the demon bitch that's been following you." Loki made a sort of angry growling noise as he said that, but his expression cleared and he moved on before Sam could ask. "Before you get yourself killed, I decided to intervene."

"I don't need your help," Sam bit back, still trying to decide why Loki thought Ruby was arranging the attacks he kept falling into.

Loki snorted. "Yeah, you do. Whether you admit it or not, kiddo, you're spiraling. I'm not going to let you get yourself killed on a suicide mission to destroy Lilith."

"What are you going to do instead?" Sam demanded, gesturing to the set up of the room. He still hadn't taken a seat on the couch. "Talk me through my issues?"

"Like that would work," Loki said dryly. "Nah, I've got a better plan."

"Which is?" Sam asked pointedly.

The scene abruptly shifted, and Sam found himself sitting in a padded kitchen chair in front of a large square table, Loki sitting directly opposite him holding a rectangular box.

"Monopoly," Loki announced, sounding pleased with himself.

For the first time in almost a month, Sam's lips twitched towards a smile. "Seriously?"

"Deadly," Loki said firmly. "Consider it therapy. If you can beat me, I'll take you back to your crappy motel, and I'll even get you cookies."

Sam rolled his eyes, but didn't protest when Loki began to set the game board up. "So, if I don't win, you aren't going to let me go?" He surmised from what the trickster had left out.

"Pretty much," Loki confirmed agreeably. "I've gotten the distinct impression that you're hell bent on getting yourself killed, and I'd rather not have to be watching your ass twenty-four seven because you've got a death wish."

Sam huffed at that, but decided not to press the point. "Fine, we'll play your damn game."

Loki winked at him. "Have a little fun, Sammy. Life's not all doom and gloom."

* * *

Sam might have been inclined to agree that life could be fun, but Loki had beaten him quite handily at Monopoly. That was more irritating than anything, at least at the moment, because Sam had been awesome at Monopoly back in college, never losing a game.

"I think you'll like my house," Loki mused aloud, smirking slightly.

"What about my car?" Sam threw out as an objection.

Loki shrugged. "I'll move it to the junkyard where Singer lives."

Sam perked up at the mention of Bobby. "What about Bobby? He'll get worried if he doesn't hear from me."

Loki shot him a 'how stupid do you think I am' look. "You haven't talked to the guy in almost a month, kiddo."

"Yeah, well, maybe that's not always going to be the case," Sam said awkwardly, looking uncomfortable.

That told Loki that Sam regretted cutting Bobby out of his life, and he sighed reluctantly. "Fine, you can call Singer. Don't do something stupid like ask him to hunt you down though, because I'd like to have a relaxing summer, and that doesn't include ditching hunters on my tail."

"You're seriously going to kidnap me for the foreseeable future?" Sam asked incredulously, still not really comprehending what was happening.

"Yep." Loki replied, his tone stern.

"I can't just abandon my mission!" Sam protested. "Killing Lilith is important."

Loki nodded. "Agreed. You're not going to be the one to do it though."

Sam bristled at that. "The hell I'm not!"

"You aren't," Loki said firmly. "There's a lot of reasons why not, but I'm not going to have this argument right now. Call Bobby and tell him you'll be off the grid for awhile. How long depends on how difficult you are about me giving you a new lease on life."

Sam rolled his eyes at Loki's dramatic description of his kidnapping plan. "Fine," he grumbled. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial, waiting nervously for Bobby to pick up.

"Hello?" Bobby's gruff voice suggested the phone had interrupted something else he'd been doing.

"Hey, Bobby, it's me," Sam said quietly.

There was a shift in the silence before Bobby replied, "It's about damn time I heard from you, boy. Where the hell are you?"

Sam shifted the mouthpiece away and asked Loki, "I'm still in Nevada, right?"

"For now," was the reply.

Readjusting the phone, Sam replied, "In Nevada for the time being. I'm moving on soon though." He glared at Bobby as he relayed this information.

"Who are you with?" Bobby asked warily.

Sam hesitated. "An old friend," he finally answered.

"Do I need to be concerned about you, Sam?" Bobby asked seriously.

There was another pause, but this time Sam was seriously considering the question being posed. "No, I don't think so. Actually, you'd probably need to be more worried if I was still on my own. I haven't exactly been careful lately. Apparently that pissed off this friend of mine, so I'm apparently going to be taken somewhere to be re-taught about how fun life can be." Sam relayed all of this in a very wry tone, expressing exactly how futile he thought Loki's mission was.

"The hell you picking up friends from, boy?" Bobby asked, confused. "Where are you going to be?"

Sam sighed. "I don't know, Bobby, I just don't think I'm going to be able to call for awhile. I figured I'd just let you know not to be too worried about me. Like I said, I'm probably safer in the long run."

"I'm not happy about this," Bobby muttered darkly.

"I'm not in danger, Bobby, promise," Sam repeated. "Take care of the car for me, okay? I'm leaving it with you."

Loki snapped his fingers at those words, and Sam knew that the Impala had appeared in Bobby's lot.

"Sam," Bobby said flatly, "how the hell did that car just appear in my front yard? Just who are you with?"

"A friend, Bobby. I promise, I'm safe." Sam rubbed his forehead in frustration and sighed. "Just, take care of her? Please?"

Bobby's tone softened. "You know I will, Sam."

"Thanks, Bobby. I'll see you later." Sam hung up the phone before the conversation could go further, pocketing it and turning to face Loki again. "I'm still not happy about this," he warned him.

"I didn't expect you to be happy about it," Loki said with a shrug. "You'll thank me eventually though."

"You mean after the Stockholm Syndrome kicks in?" Sam snarked.

Loki laughed out loud. "Relax, kiddo. You already like me, just admit it! This is going to be way more fun than you're making it out to be."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You have some redeemable qualities, I guess," He admitted. "Where exactly are you taking me, anyway?"

Instead of answering, Loki snapped his fingers. Their surroundings became an attractive Tuscan villa with what looked like many state of the art updates. The living room they'd appeared in contained several full bookshelves and a gigantic flat screen tv, with a window to the side that looked out upon endless fields of vibrant green.

"Woah." Sam was impressed, and the reaction escaped him before he could reign it in. Resigned, he asked, "Where are we?"

"The south of Italy," Loki replied easily. "This is my favorite house most of the time. If you get bored while I'm at work, you can watch me do my thing on the tv, or watch anything else, and there's a ton of books all over this place."

"You set up your tv so I can watch you murder all day?" Sam asked incredulously.

"I do not murder all day," Loki corrected, emphasizing each syllable. "I creatively instruct, and sometimes my pupils aren't receptive, or deserving of the chance to change. Not my problem. Besides, I haven't killed someone in ages. Last one doesn't even count, since I brought him back." He looked at Sam meaningfully.

Sam knew that meant that Loki hadn't killed in awhile, but the thought that that was still part of his job description bothered him. He also wanted to sit the trickster down now that they were friends and demand a more complete explanation about why the hell the mystery spot thing had been necessary, but he decided to leave it for now.

"I'll have you know, I'm pretty damn entertaining to watch," Loki teased.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll think about it. You got any food in this place?"

Loki snapped his fingers and produced a cheese plate, bowl of bread, and two wine glasses with a bottle of some fancy red wine Sam didn't have a hope of pronouncing correctly. "You ask, I deliver," he said easily, passing the food to Sam, who arranged it on a coffee table and sat down on the floor cross-legged.

"Thanks," Sam offered, taking a bite of bread. He wasn't cool with this in the slightest, but there was a rational part of him that knew that the way he'd been acting was problematic to say the least. He'd almost been begging for something to stop him. He'd expected it to be death, not the friend he'd abandoned when his brother died.

"No problem, kiddo." Loki took a sip of wine and snagged a piece of cheese off the plate. "I'll only be out for a few hours every day, and not even every day. I don't work nonstop or anything, so we'll have time to hang out and play games or whatever."

Sam chuckled. "This is really weird," he acknowledged with amusement.

Loki shrugged. "I don't really care. All I care about is keeping you alive and out of reach of the forces moving against you. Although, really, who knows why I care. Striking up a friendship with you was a bizarre move for me. Still trying to figure that out."

"Me too," Sam chuckled. His expression darkened though as he thought about the first part of Loki's reply. "What do you mean the forces moving against me?"

"Another story for another day," Loki replied, shaking his head. "Not relevant at the moment, not while you're here."

"At your villa in Italy," Sam finished dryly.

"Which is freaking awesome," Loki added pointedly.

Sam's lips twitched. "It's kind of cool," he admitted.

"I'll take that as a victory," Loki declared with a grin.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

**Thank you guys so much for all your compliments on the previous chapter! There's at least three of you that are reading this even though you hate Sabriel, which cracks me up. Glad you're here, regardless!**

**Thanks to anna3311234, FireChildSlytherin5, and yuffb for their reviews on chapter 5!**

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Channel Surfing**

Sam settled in to his new life with a lot more ease than he could have predicted. The first day after Loki had kidnapped him, he woke up after probably the best sleep he'd had ever to find an elaborate pancake breakfast waiting for him. Predictably, Loki was eating a stack of pancakes drowning in thick strawberry syrup and powdered sugar, which made Sam feel sick just looking at it. He opted for the chocolate chip pancakes with a little bit of butter. Loki had left shortly after that for "work," a euphemism Sam chose to ignore for the time being. He engrossed himself in reading, and had finished the majority of Loki's Baroness Orczy collection by the time the trickster returned.

"I'm going to have to get you a bigger library," Loki commented, indicating the stack of books Sam had next to the chair where he'd been parked most of the day. "At this rate, you're going to go through everything I have in a week."

Sam shrugged. "I like to read. What time is it?"

Loki chuckled. "Almost five. Did you eat lunch?"

The grumbling in Sam's stomach was answer enough, and he looked chagrined. "No?" He offered apologetically.

Loki rolled his eyes. "All right, what'll it be?"

"Caesar salad?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Sure, but that's not filling enough, especially if you plan to make skipping meals a regular thing. Let's go full out Italian." Loki grinned, and his eyes twinkled.

Sam would have been more concerned about the prospect, but he found himself at the kitchen table with a bowl of some kind of alfredo pasta, caesar salad, and garlic bread in front of him. "Woah."

"I can do food," Loki pointed out unnecessarily.

"Yeah, I see that. You know none of this is healthy, right?" Sam protested mildly.

"Go down the hall, first door on the left," Loki told him off handedly. "There's a gym."

Sam's eyes widened, but all he said was, "Thanks."

They ate dinner amicably enough, and spent the evening playing Risk, which Sam was winning for most of the game, until Loki managed to get the upper hand just in the nick of time. Sam thought about sulking, but decided his time could be better spent.

On his way to his ridiculously comfortable bedroom, Sam was stopped by Loki, who was looking at him with an unfathomable expression.

"Good day?" Loki asked, his tone serious and questioning, like the answer was important.

Sam thought about it for a second before nodding. "Yeah, oddly enough. I don't want to reinforce the bad behavior of kidnapping, but I might be a little bit grateful. Possibly."

Loki grinned and nodded. "Fair enough. I have to leave early tomorrow, but I'll leave breakfast in the fridge and set up the bookcases so you can read whatever you want."

Passing over the breakfast comment, Sam froze and gaped at Loki. "How?"

"Easy. Ask the bookshelf for what you want, any book, and it should appear. You could go topical too, if you don't have a title in mind." Loki shrugged. "It's easier than building you a whole library."

Sam was still gaping, but he managed to nod his understanding and smile slightly. "Thanks, Loki."

"No problem, kiddo."

Sam spent the next hour or so staring at his ceiling, contemplating his kidnapping. Weirdly, he was okay with it. He would have expected to be more bothered by his captivity, but he was actually having fun, in a strange way. He could tell Loki didn't really understand why he'd kidnapped Sam, or why he cared about what happened to Sam at all, and Sam had to admit that he didn't understand either. That being said, it was clear that Loki did care, and Sam was grateful, whether or not he understood why.

The next few days, Sam continued to avoid the television, opting for the magical bookshelf instead. On the second day, he managed to read through three Charles Dickens novels before Loki got home, and they debated the inherent meaning behind Great Expectations for about an hour over dinner. On the third day, Sam relaxed into the comfy armchair with The Lord Of The Rings, and got about halfway through Two Towers before Loki got home. Once he had returned and seen what Sam was reading, he insisted they have a movie marathon of the film series. Sam reluctantly agreed, providing Loki let him finish re-reading the books first, since the last time he'd read them had been at school. Sam finished them on the fourth day, and stayed up until well into the following morning watching the movies with Loki, which was admittedly the most fun he'd had in years.

It was the fifth day that Sam gave in and turned on the television. Aside from a DVD player and a DVD collection that seemed to be imbued with the same power as the bookshelf to give him whatever he wanted, he also had access to just about any cable channel he could think of. He got distracted by a marathon of Mythbusters on Discovery Channel for about an hour before he remembered why he'd turned on the television in the first place. The remote had a button clearly labeled "Loki" on it, and he stared at it for a solid minute before reluctantly pressing it.

Immediately Loki's face filled the screen, and he was clearly enjoying something. It took a minute for the picture to shift, then Sam saw what he was doing. There was a full grown man stuck inside what looked like some kind of testing laboratory, with life-size gummy bears advancing on him in a threatening manner. It was the most bizarre thing Sam had ever seen, and he found himself laughing before he could stop himself. He immediately felt guilty, and clapped a hand over his mouth. He shouldn't find this funny - it was wrong!

One of the gummy bears, bright orange in color, moved more quickly and knocked the terrified man on his backside, roaring at him until he pissed himself. Sam watched in rapt fascination as suddenly the life size candy vanished, and the man was left alone, panting and shaking.

The picture refocused on Loki, who looked pleased with himself. "Fair's fair," he muttered to himself.

Sam took the end of the gummy bear terror to be an indication that Loki was about to appear, so he quickly switched back to Mythbusters and relaxed into the couch.

Sure enough, Loki appeared behind him a split second later, tossing a glance at the television. "Oh cool!" He enthused, throwing himself onto the sofa next to Sam. "I love this show!"

Refraining from commenting, Sam made a noncommittal noise. When a commercial break came up, he muted the television and turned to glance expectantly at Loki.

It took the trickster a minute to realize Sam was looking at him, and he glanced back to meet the hunter's gaze. "What?"

"Gummy bears?" Sam asked, his tone dripping with something that was either judgement or amusement, it wasn't clear which.

Loki sat up with a grin. "You watched today?"

"Just the last little bit," Sam admitted. "I guess I've got to give you props for creativity."

"I was pretty happy with that one," Loki acknowledged with a grin. He held up a finger significantly and added, "Take note, Samsquatch, I didn't kill the guy."

"What did he do to deserve getting terrorized by candy?" Sam asked skeptically.

Loki's expression grew dark. "There was a chemical spill at his factory recently that affected an entire batch of gummy bears. That factory sends product out nation wide. It was too expensive for him to do a recall, apparently, so he just let the tainted batch go out with the rest of the candy. I took care of it, but I decided he needed to experience the terror of gummy bears that the parents of kids eating them would have felt." He shrugged. "He's lucky I didn't kill him."

Sam felt better about finding amusement in Loki's punishment now that he knew what the guy had done to get himself on Loki's radar in the first place. Somehow, the fact that Loki seemed to determined to punish assholes rather than just attacking innocent people made him feel better about the guy being a trickster. He still wanted to know what exactly he'd done to deserve having to live through the Mystery Spot thing, but he wasn't ready to have that conversation.

"So, ready to eat?" Loki offered, changing the subject.

"Sure. What's on the menu?" Sam asked with mild interest.

"I was thinking chicken, and maybe apple pie for desert," Loki told him with a wink.

Sam smiled in response, but as soon as Loki's gaze was off him, he felt an inkling of depression work it's way back into his mood. Being in Italy had done a lot to fix the moping and brooding suicidal basket case that Dean's death had turned him into, but that was all still lurking in the background. If little things like a mention of Dean's favorite pie were going to keep triggering memories of the loss of his last family member, Sam was going to have a really hard time overcoming the debilitating grief Loki had been sparing him from the past few days.

"You okay?" Loki asked suddenly, turning around to catch the contemplative look on Sam's face.

"Huh?" Sam glanced up automatically and schooled his expression. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Hmm." Loki wasn't sure the kind of thinking Sam was doing was healthy for him, but at least in Loki's villa he was hidden from Ruby and everyone else conspiring against him. It wasn't perfect, but at least the hunter was safe.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**

**I love you guys! Thank you so much for your support. I really love this fic, so it makes me happy that you do too!**

**Thanks to yuffb, FireChildSlytherin5, oscarthegrouch1812, Buttercup, Ughmerlin, and Annie for their reviews on chapter 6!**

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Fresh Air**

It only took about a week for Sam to feel completely settled into a routine, and barely longer than that for it to feel completely normal. Sam and Loki always ate breakfast together, then Loki would leave for work and Sam would either curl up with a book or watch a movie. He usually checked in on Loki through the television a few times a day, but rarely watched for longer than a few minutes. To be best of his knowledge, Loki hadn't killed anybody since Mystery Spot, or at least that's what he'd told Sam. Watching him through the television, Sam had to admit that Loki wasn't currently killing anybody, so he decided not to protest the creative punishments. Loki always told him what his victims had done to deserve his attentions if Sam asked, and Sam had chosen to just leave it alone.

One morning, as Sam devoured a particularly delicious omelet, Loki surprised him with a suggestion that deviated from their established routine.

"Do you want to get some fresh air?" Loki asked, leaning forward across the table to rest his chin on his hands.

Sam paused, fork in midair. "How?" He asked cautiously.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Relax, Samsquatch. I just thought you might want out of the house for a little while. We could go do something fun. I could use a break."

Eyeing him speculatively, Sam took another bite of omelet and chewed thoughtfully. "We can go anywhere?" He asked for clarification.

"Of course," Loki shrugged. "Beach in Spain, Eiffel Tower, catacombs, the London Eye, whatever tickles your fancy."

Having never been to Europe before Loki had abducted him, Sam was overwhelmed by the possibility that he might be able to visit some of the places he'd read about for so long. "Could we go to Vatican City?" He asked tentatively.

There was a nearly unnoticeable twitch in Loki's eyes before he nodded casually. "Sure, kiddo. Whatever you'd like. I haven't been there in a while."

"I'd just really like to go through the museum and see the Sistine Chapel," Sam explained, fiddling with his fork.

"Figures you'd be a museum guy," Loki said with a roll of his eyes.

Sam barely suppressed the urge to stick his tongue out at the trickster, but he did grin. "It'll be fun! You're right too, some fresh air will be good. Not that the house isn't awesome, but..."

"I'd imagine staying in one place for too long when you've grown up on the road makes you a little antsy," Loki pointed out in explanation.

Sam shrugged and changed the subject. "When do you want to leave?"

Loki gestured to what remained of Sam's breakfast. "Finish that and we'll be gone."

If there were records for speed eating an omelet, it's entirely possible that Sam might have broken them with his eagerness.

* * *

Vaitican City was gorgeous. Sam could easily have spent all day just wandering around looking at buildings, and only the allure of the museum kept him from doing just that. Loki snapped them into the first main gallery, and Sam was immediately enraptured by the artwork. Had he been closer attention, he might have noticed that Loki too was fascinated, though by Sam's enthusiasm, not the gallery. They made it down one side of the gallery before it occurred to Sam that he was walking with a supernatural creature that had been alive for more years than he could fathom.

"Were you, like, around for all of this?" Sam asked, gesturing to the museum broadly.

"Yes," Loki replied, amused. "I get around."

Sam's eyes lit up, and he grabbed Loki's arm, dragging him over to a painting of a Pope standing in front of a crowd. "So, you were actually here, like walking the Earth, when this guy was Pope?"

Loki rolled his eyes at Sam. "Yeah, but it's not like we met or anything. I don't tend to get along so well with the church." There was tightening around his eyes, but he kept his amused expression fixed in place. "If you want to hear stories from the past, Sammy, none of the good ones are going to be about Pope So-and-So doing whatever."

Pursing his lips in thought, Sam asked, "Is there anything here you could tell me about? Like from your history?"

Loki considered that for a minute, then grinned. "Tell you what, after we get through the museum, I've got a story that'll knock your socks off about Michelangelo and that painting of his."

Sam's eyes narrowed as he tried to decide if Loki was joking with him, but he relaxed when Loki appeared to be serious. "Deal. I'll try not to take too long looking at the fascinating history." He said the last part sarcastically, knowing that Loki was mostly just humoring him.

For all the teasing Loki gave him about his fascination with the history and artwork, the trickster was actually perfectly content to follow Sam through the museum. It would never have been his idea of a good day out, but watching Sam get excited about history Loki barely cared to remember was far more interesting than he could have predicted. In fact, Loki barely even glanced at any of the exhibits, too engrossed in watched Sam.

When Sam was finally ready to move on, Loki transported them into the Sistine Chapel. The building was buzzing with the sounds of the tourists, causing the guards to make 'shushing' noises every few minutes to keep the dull roar down to a minimum. Loki didn't have a chance to say anything before Sam was captivated by the ceiling. He'd seen pictures, of course, but that hardly compared to seeing the actual masterpiece.

"It's beautiful," Sam whispered, careful to keep his voice low. "I wonder how accurate art like this is. Like, did any of this," he gestured to the ceiling, "actually happen the way it's depicted? It's beautiful, regardless, I just wonder."

"Well, I'll tell you right now that God does not look like that," Loki replied flippantly, eyeing the ceiling with amusement.

Sam's attention was immediately diverted to Loki. "You've met God?" He asked, disbelievingly.

"Samsquatch, I am a god, remember?" He pointed out. "I've met the heads of most major religions."

Processing that, Sam returned his eyes to the ceiling. "You know, I used to pray all the time," he commented quietly.

"To God?" Loki asked, surprised. He wouldn't have pegged Sam as the praying type.

"God, angels, whoever would listen." Sam shrugged. "I always thought that if so much evil existed, good had to be somewhere. You can't have just all evil, it has to balance out, right?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued with, "It's not like I was ever heard though. I mean, I begged God to save Dad, to save Dean, and I lost them both."

Loki didn't have a response for that, so he simply laid a hand on Sam's arm in comfort. "If it's any consolation, kiddo, God's not exactly got a history of intervening when His subjects want him to. It's not like He just decided to ignore you out of spite."

Sam snorted, and relaxed slightly. "Yeah, I guess." Looking for a subject change, he remembered Loki's earlier words. "You had a story about Michelangelo?"

With a chuckle, Loki allowed the conversation to shift and nodded. "Yeah. Okay, so years before this got painted, Michelangelo did a sculpture of a brother of mine."

"You have a brother?" Sam interrupted, surprised.

"I had a huge family," Loki revealed, accenting the past tense. "Anyway, my brother was pissed at how Michelangelo portrayed him - he thought his face was wrong or something - so in revenge, he screwed with the Sistine Chapel." Loki grinned and directed Sam's eyes up to one of the edges of the painting, where various people were portrayed. "See that one?"

Sam squinted, and could barely make out what appeared to be a woman giving the center panel, the one of God and Adam, a middle finger. Laughing out loud, he turned to Loki in surprise. "What, was raising the middle finger just as offensive in the 1500s?" He asked skeptically.

"It used to be a different gesture," Loki explained. "It's enchanted, so the rude gesture she's making changes depending on whatever's most offense to the time period."

Sam chuckled. "That's creative. Are your whole family tricksters?"

Loki shook his head. "No, it was actually my idea. He just implemented it with a significant amount of glee."

"Do you ever see your family?" Sam asked cautiously, well aware that he was treading on thin ice.

"No," Loki said firmly.

Sam knew better than to attempt to continue the conversation, so he let his eyes drift back up to the ceiling. After a moment of silence, he commented, "Thanks, Loki."

The hand Loki had never removed from Sam's arm squeezed slightly in response. "You're welcome, Sammy."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**

**I meant to get a new chapter out a couple of days ago, so sorry for the wait!**

**Thanks to FireChildSlytherin5, yuffb, Slytherin Cat, and one guest for their reviews! I'm going to single out aLoggedInReader, whose fanfiction I want to recommend to everyone, because it's awesome.**

**That being said, here's chapter 8!**

* * *

**Chapter 8 - The Trickster Channel**

Time passed a lot more quickly than Sam would have expected. He could easily spend all day either watching movies or reading, but he eventually established a routine for himself, and followed it to the letter. Loki usually left right after breakfast, so Sam would go work out in the gym. Afterwards, he would shower and then read until lunch, where he would whatever Loki had left in the fridge, then he spend the afternoon watching either a movie or television.

He still checked in on Loki randomly throughout the day, using the television channel Loki had programmed. He referred to it in his head as The Trickster Channel, and he usually found himself shaking his head in chagrin whenever he happened to flip over to it.

After a couple of weeks of following a routine (it had been a month and a half since Dean died - he couldn't help but count every measure of time against that), Sam decided to actually watch Loki do his thing all day. He'd grown weirdly comfortable around the trickster, and didn't ever think of him as a monster anymore. They were friends, good friends, and Sam wasn't sure how that had happened. He knew Dean would never have approved, but Sam couldn't seem to find a problem with it. Loki was actually kind of a good person, even if he had a weirdly skewed moral compass.

When Sam turned The Trickster Channel on, he was surprised to see that Loki was very clearly in New York City. Sam hadn't really thought about the United States in awhile, and the fact that Loki was in America while Sam was in Italy was odd to think about. Whatever Loki was doing, he was very focused on it. He was on a marina full of boats, and seemed intent on something about the yacht in front of him.

"Perfect," Loki said through the television, looking smugly pleased with himself. "Now we wait."

Sam wondered if Loki somehow knew he was watching, or if he just meant himself when he said 'we.' He decided that Loki probably didn't know he was watching, because for the next two hours, nothing interesting happened. Loki sat next to the yacht, watching, completely still, and didn't do a single thing. It made Sam curious how often he did that. Did he spend a lot of his days just waiting, not doing anything? It made Sam feel a little sad, that Loki didn't pop back to Italy to spend that time with him. That thought was immediately followed by confusion, because since when did he feel a desperate need to spend more time with a supernatural creature? He knew the answer to that though - since he became friends with a supernatural creature.

In the end, Loki turned himself invisible right as an older man appeared on the marina, walking towards the yacht. He stepped onto it and was immediately suspended in midair, unable to move. Things began to appear on the boat, within the man's line of sight, and he began to struggle violently. The items appearing were small, and it took Sam a moment to figure out what they were. Bags of weed. Was Loki's victim today a drug dealer? Sam wasn't sure what Loki's plan was, and he found himself starring at the screen with rapt attention as the helpless man watching more and more drugs appear on his boat. Finally, the man fell unconscious, and Loki thrust him onto the boat, falling into the pile of drugs.

Sirens sounded in the air, and Loki retreated, watching as NYPD arrived and took possession of the man, leaving officers to bag up the evidence. With a satisfied sound, Loki vanished.

Sam knew Loki was behind him, and he hung his head over the armchair of the coach until he could see him. "Drug dealer?" He asked.

Loki made a pleased noise that Sam had been watching him. "Yeah, exclusively to a prep school in town."

Sam shook his head in disgust, pulling back to sit normally on the coach. "I hate creeps like that who target kids," he commented sourly.

"Me too." Loki replied, taking a seat in the armchair.

"So...why'd you set him up to get arrested?" Sam asked cautiously.

Loki shrugged. "Once the police had him for something that would stick, they'd be able to press him with all the other charges they've got too. They just needed something concrete first. That kind of possession is pretty concrete."

"No, I got that," Sam pointed out. The plan had been pretty obvious after all. "I meant, why didn't you kill him?"

Loki examined him for a moment before replying, "I don't seem to find a lot of appeal in that these days. I think your sense of justice is rubbing off on me or something."

There was a silence for a moment, before Sam asked the question he'd been afraid to ask since Loki kidnapped him. Blowing out his breath and sucking it back in swiftly, he asked, "Loki...why did you target me, in Mystery Spot?"

There was a huff, but Loki didn't sound surprised. "It's really complicated, actually," he admitted. "The short answer is to try and teach you to not do exactly what you did when you lost Dean...both times."

Having mostly climbed out of the reckless and single-focused determination that had come on in the onset of Dean's death, Sam thought he knew what that meant. "So, what, you decided I was too dependent on my brother and decided to teach me not to collapse when he died?"

"Basically," Loki agreed.

"You're not telling me something," Sam accused, turning to face Loki head on. "There's something else going on."

Loki hesitated, looking at Sam with an unfathomable expression. "Okay, you want the long version? There's a lot I can't tell you, kiddo, but basically you had a lot of crap headed your way if you continued down that road, and I'm not talking an early death."

Sam's brow furrowed in response, since he'd been pretty sure he would die, but Loki didn't let him interrupt.

"You know about the power inside you, Sam, and you know about Azazel's influence in your life." Loki waited for Sam's nod before continuing. "Were you to intake more demon blood, it would increase your power exponentially, and you'd become a very powerful weapon. Maybe somebody has already hinted that to you?" His tone was accusing.

Sam shifted awkwardly. "She never said I'd have to drink demon blood," He said uncomfortably.

Loki sighed, getting up and moving over to sit next to Sam on the coach. He rested a hand on his leg and said quietly, "Sam, all of those demon traps you were falling into were a set up. Demon blood is also a healing agent, and she was planning to get you mortally wounded, regain your trust by saving you, and get you hooked on the blood in one fell swoop. It's insanely addicting, and you would have fallen under her spell like that." He snapped his fingers to accentuate the point.

"Why did Ruby want me to become more powerful?" Sam asked, confused. "I mean, before she tried to convince me to use my powers to save Dean, but he didn't want me to go down that road."

"Dean's a lot smarter than I gave him credit for," Loki admitted. "Look, killing Lilith? Not a good thing."

Sam's expression became even more puzzled. "Why not?"

"Lilith is a key," Loki explained. "She opens a cage that contains a monster you do not want to see."

"You going to tell me what it is?" Sam asked petulantly.

"Doesn't matter," Loki said dismissively. "You're safe with me, and I'm going to keep the plan you were being manipulated towards from happening. I promise you that, okay?"

Sam wanted to fight against that, to argue that he deserved to know everything, but he relaxed against the coach and nodded. "Yeah, okay. I...I trust you, Loki."

A genuine smile bloomed across Loki's face at that. "Good. Between you making me less wrathful and me getting you away from your grotesquely manipulated destiny, I think we might both be getting something out of this relationship."

"Relationship?" Sam repeated, his lips twitching.

"Friendship," Loki corrected himself, not batting an eye. "Eating food, watching tv, saving each other from bad situations and decisions, that's what friends do, right?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed with a laugh. "That's what friends do." The weird thing was though, Sam felt like he could almost imagine an actual relationship with Loki, like something beyond friendship. He dismissed the notion, knowing he was crazy, but it lingered. It probably had something to do with how much Loki cleared cared about him, because other than Dean and Bobby, who were family, nobody had shown him that much loving attention since Jess. That's what it was though, it was loving attention. Sam knew he was practically flowering under the warmth of Loki's care, and it almost scared him how much he enjoyed it.

"You ready for dinner, Samsquatch?" Loki questioned, stopped Sam's train of thought.

"Sure," Sam agreed, thankful for the distraction. He stretched and ran his fingers through his hair, which was slightly mussed from the coach he'd been lying on. "Chinese?"

"Your wish is my command." Loki snapped his fingers with a grin, and suddenly the room was filled with the aroma of sweet and spicy sauces and perfectly cooked meats and vegetables.

Sam smiled broadly and made a beeline for the dining room table, ignoring Loki's chuckle behind him.

"Save some for me!" Loki taunted.

"It's not my fault if you're too slow!" Sam teased back, snapping chopsticks at the trickster. "This stuff is amazing."

"That's what happens when you get it from China," Loki said wryly, snatching a container of beef away from Sam. "Enjoy, kiddo."

If the noises coming out of Sam's mouth were any indication, that's exactly what the hunter was doing. "'s good," he commented, mouth full of pork.

"Chew with your mouth closed," Loki ordered, grinning anyway.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Like you could possible lecture me in manners," he sniped after swallowing. "You're appalling!"

Rather than argue, Loki shrugged. "So what, you're going to give up on correcting my bad habits and stoop to my level?" He teased.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes again, Sam took another mouthful of food and studiously ignored Loki, chewing and swallowing pointedly before saying, "Don't worry, you're not going to lose your Jiminy Cricket."

Loki perked up. "Ooh, good idea! Disney marathon tonight."

Sam laughed, starting to look around for a drink before turning back to barely catch the water bottle Loki tossed at him. "Thanks. And sure, as long as you don't sing the songs for the foreseeable future."

"You're no fun," Loki pouted.

"No, I just have ears," Sam joked, dodging the elbow to the ribs Loki tried to send him.

"Fine, no singing," Loki grouched. "But you have to make it up to me, which means beach vacation."

"What, you trying to get me out of my clothes?" Sam snarked, lips twitching.

Loki shrugged. "It's not a bad idea. I just think it'd be fun, and you owe me fun if there's not going to be any spontaneous Disney sing-alongs."

Trying not to dwell too much on the innuendos they'd just thrown at each other, Sam nodded. "I can get on board with that plan."

"Great!" Loki grinned broadly. "Spain is lovely this time of year."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

**You guys are all awesome, and I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! A few of you have been asking for hints about the future...hold your horses! We'll get there, I promise!**

**Thanks to FireChildSlytherin5, yuffb, MorbidApocalypse, Annie, YinYangClaire, hpfreak1993, lipstick lulluby, iloveanime9251, CannibalHolocaust, and aLoggedInReader for their reviews on chapter 8!**

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Sand Gets Everywhere**

Loki made good on his promise, and Sam woke up the next day in a hammock, rather than his ridiculously comfortable bed.

"Loki?" Sam called, awkwardly dismounting the hammock and trying not to face plant in the warm sand. Once he was confident that he was stable on his feet, he noted with mild surprise that he was no longer in the boxers and t-shirt he'd worn to bed. Instead, he'd awoken in a pair of green and brown patterned swimming trunks, which were almost long enough to reach his knees, but hung low enough on his hips to show off the v. Sam rolled his eyes, not concerned enough to complain about the wardrobe change.

"Over here!" Loki's voice called out from somewhere to Sam's left, accompanied by the sound of waves and the smell of fresh fruit.

Intrigued, Sam headed in that direction, coming out of a bunch of palm trees to see the trickster in question standing next to a table decorated with various tropical flowers and large platters of fruit. Loki himself was munching on a large piece of pineapple, and he was wearing a pair of tight metallic gold swimming shorts that shone in the sun. Sam was suddenly intensely grateful for the swimming shorts he was in, since it apparently could have been a lot worse. Loki's shorts really didn't leave much to the imagination.

"Here, catch," Loki said casually, tossing a skewer at Sam.

Catching it deftly before the skewer landed in sand, Sam took a look at it closely. Grapes, pineapple, strawberry, and kiwi decorated his particular skewer. "Looks good," Sam commented, plucking a grape off the skewer with his teeth and chewing it, his expression expressing his appreciation as he swallowed. "Tastes good too. Where are we, exactly?"

"I told you, Spain," Loki informed him, as though it was obvious.

Sam did actually remember Loki mentioning that the previous evening, so he just nodded in acknowledgement in ate more fruit. "How'd you manage to get an entire beach to yourself?" He asked, realizing all of a sudden that the beach was empty. It was secluded, but he was still surprised that such a nice area was devoid of tourists, or even locals.

Loki shrugged. "We're kind of out of the way. I also may have implied that rabid sharks were in the area. Or something to that effect; my Spanish is a little rusty."

Sam opened his mouth, shut it, opened it, then shut it again, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "There's too many places to start, so I'm not even going to bother," he commented wryly, finishing off the last of his skewer.

Grinning broadly, Loki tossed him a chunk of cantaloupe, which Sam barely caught in time. "Try some of that," Loki instructed. "It's on my top ten list of best fruits I've ever eaten."

"You have a list for that?" Sam asked, taking a bite. After a split second of consideration, Sam had to wonder if it was worth making such a list solely for the purpose of putting the cantaloupe on it.

"I have a lot of lists. Favorite fruits, restaurants, rest stops, human-made landmarks, natural landmarks, supernatural species, etc. Bet you can't guess what the shortest list is." Loki's eyes were twinkling with an emotion Sam couldn't name.

"Favorite height?" Sam guessed, more in jest than seriousness.

Loki mock-scowled at him, sticking his tongue out. "No, Samsquatch, guess again."

"I don't know, just tell me," Sam rolled his eyes and licked his fingers, removing the remaining fruit juices.

"Favorite humans," Loki announced. "Shortest list because there's only one item." He gave Sam a meaningful stare, then picked up a slice of watermelon and took a huge bite.

Sam stared at him for a moment, surprised, then felt warm as the realization that he was the only human Loki actually liked sunk in. That was, in some weird twisted way, kind of an honor. "Thanks," was all he could think to say. Apparently it was enough, because Loki grinned at him again and chucked a banana at him.

"So, what, are we just going to stand here while you chuck fruit at me all day?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow as he peeled the banana.

"We can do whatever you want," Loki said with a shrug. "This is just breakfast. I figured we could do a cookout for lunch. The water's great, and the sand is like the perfect warmth."

Sam smiled wistfully. "I'd love to swim."

"Swimming it is then," Loki announced easily. "Finish your fruit, then I'll race you." His eyes glinted mischievously.

Sam was completely sure that Loki would cheat in any kind of competition, so he decided that a little bit of preemptive action might be in order. He lifted his banana as if to take a bite, then slid the entire length of fruit down his throat in one swift movement, moving it up and down just slightly, then pulling it back out and proceeding to eat it normally, bite by bite. Out of the corner of his eye, he was fully aware of Loki starring at him with an unfathomable expression. Sam finished off his banana, licked off his fingers, turned to Loki, winked, then took off running down the beach.

It was a full three seconds before Loki's loud cry of, "Cheater!" echoed down the beach, and Sam barely had time to brace himself to be tackled into the water by a flying trickster.

After flailing around in the water for a moment, Sam managed to get his bearings enough to shake his hair out of his face and splutter at Loki. "Was that necessary?!"

"You deep throated a banana to distract me," Loki informed him. "All's fair in love and war. Or, you know, innuendo-laced fruit eating and races on sand. Same thing."

Sam laughed out loud, long and hard, and felt a shift inside himself that he couldn't quite identify. He felt lighter, and considerably happier. He hadn't exactly been unhappy since he'd been kidnapped, but he hadn't been what he'd call truly happy either. That had changed though, and he could feel the difference. Redirecting his attention to Loki, Sam commented, "Your fault for giving me a banana."

"Yeah, I'll accept the blame for that," Loki agreed easily. "I can't say I didn't enjoy it. It's going on my list of favorite innuendos."

"You have a...never mind, I really don't want to know." Sam shook his head in amusement and dodged a splash in his direction.

Loki chuckled and dodged the return splash just as easily. "What, you don't make lists?"

"No, I do," Sam replied, realizing as he said it that it was actually true. "I just don't have lists for stuff like that."

"Let me guess," Loki commented dryly, "Favorite guns, favorite knives, favorite crappy diners?"

Sam made a face at him and splashed him again. "More like favorite songs, favorite parts of the country, and favorite books." As he spoke, he realized that he could easily makes two lists about Loki off the top of his head. There was a list of things a mile long that drove him nuts about the trickster, but another list equally as long of all the things that Sam kind of loved about him. That was certainly interesting to consider.

Loki smiled at him, pleased. "Good things to make a note of," he said approvingly. "What about favorite supernatural creatures?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"It's a short list," Sam teased, parroting Loki's earlier mention of his 'favorite humans' list. "You don't exactly have competition."

"What, no Casper the friendly ghost?" Loki joked, winking at him.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I swear, if I had a dime for every time some victim of a haunting has referenced that stupid thing..." He trailed off.

"You'd have a more extensive wardrobe?" Loki suggested.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Sam protested, glancing down before he remembered that he wasn't wearing any of his actual clothes.

Loki gave him a look. "For one, you're not a lumberjack."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Not everything I own is denim or plaid," he pointed out.

Loki shrugged. "Would it kill you to add a little leather? Maybe a few v-necks?"

Giving Loki an appraising look, Sam raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why...?"

"What, a friend needs a reason to suggest clothes that would make you look hot?" Loki looked like he was trying to be offended, but couldn't quite pull off the expression.

"You think I'd look hot in leather?" Sam repeated, not entirely sure if that's where the conversation had really just ended up.

"Duh," Loki snarked, rolling his eyes. "Plaid's not bad, just, you know, everything in moderation, kiddo!"

"Says the guy who ate three quarts of ice cream last night!" Sam protested, laughing. "With an entire bottle of chocolate syrup and caramel sauce, I might add."

Loki shrugged. "What's your point?"

Sam rolled his eyes, but his grin didn't fade. "I don't have the slightest clue what to do with you," he sighed.

"Do with me?" Loki raised an eyebrow. "Meaning what, exactly?"

Sam shrugged. "Half of me thinks you're an insane lunatic, and trust me I've got a whole list of proofs for that one."

"And the other half?" Loki asked, curious.

Sam blustered a little before turning slightly pink and shrugging again. "That, you know, you're my best friend, and, well, everything." He scratched his head and tugged at his hair absentmindedly, not sure if he'd actually just said that.

Apparently he had, because Loki was grinning now, looking entirely too pleased. It was genuine pleasure though, not the mocking kind of smile he got when something was funny at someone's expense. He was actually happy about what Sam said. "If it means anything, Sammy," Loki said quietly, "You're kinda my whole world."

There was a pause as Sam absorbed that. Right on the heels of Loki's words came an epiphany, and Sam stared at Loki, not sure if he was actually anywhere near brave enough to broach the subject that he maybe sort of kind of had a crush on his best friend.

"Are we going to swim or just stand in the waves all day?" Loki asked gently, gesturing around them with a smile. The water was up to his chest, but it was hovering somewhere around Sam's middle, and neither of them had really been paying the water much mind.

"Oh," Sam said, surprised. He took stock of where they were for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, swimming. Definitely. Want to race again? Say, fifty yards or so and back?" He grinned, his confidence seeping back and relaxing him.

Loki winked at him. "Oh yeah. What does the winner get?"

Sam pursed his lips, stretching slightly before settling into an appropriate starting position. "I think..." he trailed off, an idea forming. Taking a deep breath, preparing to launch, Sam quickly said, "I say the winner gets a kiss." Not waiting for a reaction, Sam launched himself into the waves, counting his strokes so he'd know how far he'd gone. He was aware an instant later of the quickly gaining presence behind him, but he threw himself into the race, determined to focus on his strokes. He'd not gotten to swim much in his life. He knew how, of course, and it was an exercise he'd made use of at Stanford, but he hadn't been able to do it much the last few years. Now, he was relishing the chance to stretch his muscles this way.

Sam knew as soon as he hit fifty yards, and he flipped directions effortlessly, narrowly missing Loki as he turned. He smiled inwardly, wondering what sort of reaction he'd be facing at the end of the race. His focus must have shifted from counting his strokes, because suddenly the beach seemed much closer. He refocused, counting carefully, and keeping an eye on the approaching sand whenever he lifted his head long enough.

With a triumphant whoop, Sam reached the shore, turning around to see Loki sitting there, not looking at all like he'd just swum one hundred yards, and smirking with great amusement.

"I win."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

**I got an insane amount of enjoyment out of all of the anger I discovered in the reviews. Sorry about that! I mean, not really, but it seems appropriate to say it anyway.**

**Thanks to hpfreak1993, shahenaaz08, aLoggedInReader, FireChildSlytherin5, lipstick lulluby, Annie, and Tiarna for their reviews of chapter 9!**

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Character Development**

Sam was hyper aware of three things. Firstly, he was blushing, and he really hoped Loki would chalk that up to the physical exertion of swimming. Second, his heart was beating unnaturally quickly, but he was equally ready to blame that on the swimming as well. Finally, Loki had stood up and was right in front of him, eyebrow quirked a small smirk playing across his lips. Sam knew that it was probably in his best interests to just suck it up and kiss the trickster, rather than drawing it out, but he seemed to be frozen.

Loki raised an eyebrow curiously. "Well? I'm waiting for my prize! Or was that just talk, Samsquatch?"

To be fair, Sam had said it. He wasn't sure yet if that had been a wise idea on his part or not. Sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Sam snapped out of his stupor and moved forward in one swift movement, placing his lips over Loki's in a tender kiss, one that was probably intended to be quick, but ended up lasting for several long seconds before Sam pulled back, his expression torn between excitement and panic.

"Oh yeah," Loki said, nodding. "I would definitely call that a reward for victory. I vote that be the prize every time I win something. Or maybe just when I'm generally awesome." He grinned broadly, winking at Sam.

That seemed to be Sam's trigger, and he found himself relaxing, falling back into the easy friendship he'd managed to strike up with Loki. "So, what, I can bribe you with kisses now?" He teased, finding more of his confidence now that he'd managed to actually act on his feelings for the trickster.

"Kiddo, you could probably convince me to become Ghandi for a kiss," Loki told him, chuckling.

"I'd rather you didn't," Sam said wryly. "Ghandi's all old and shriveled. I like this form better." He gestured to the golden-haired man the trickster always appeared as.

Loki laughed out loud, theatrically wiping a fake tear away from his eye for effect. "Point taken, Sammy. I promise not to morph into a shriveled old man."

"Good," Sam agreed, smiling as well. There was a pause, then he asked tentatively, "Do we need to...I don't know...talk about it? Maybe?" He tried not to sound concerned about the prospect, but instead hopeful, which was closer to the mark.

Loki shrugged. "Might be smart. We don't have to do it right away though. I vote we play volleyball, since I'm pretty sure I can kick your ass at that, then have our cookout, and then have a dramatic heart to heart. Sound like a plan?"

"Sure," Sam agreed easily. His brow furrowed slightly, and he asked, "How the hell do you figure you can beat me at volleyball?" It wasn't that Sam had much experience with the game, but he covered a significantly larger amount of space than Loki did, which he was sure would work to his advantage.

"You'll just have to see!" Loki taunted. "Same prize as before," He pointed out quickly. "I like the whole winner gets a kiss concept."

Sam chuckled and nodded. "All right, deal."

As it turned out, Loki's methods of playing volleyball involved conjuring replicas of famous female Olympic players to cover his side of the court, while he stood in the middle and, as he informed an astonished Sam, 'looked pretty.'

Despite not having bikini-clad super athletes on his side, Sam held his own pretty well, only losing to Loki and his fake Olympians by a handful of points. He delivered Loki's victory kiss with good sportsmanship, but readily informed the trickster afterwords that he considered that victory to have been won through cheating, and so it really shouldn't count.

"Yet you still delivered my prize," Loki pointed out with a grin.

Sam couldn't really argue with that. The idea that he could kiss Loki and that Loki was actually completely on board with the idea was still heady, and Sam was definitely willing to take advantage of the new situation.

The cookout that followed was a veritable feast, and Sam couldn't remember the last time he'd been so full that he'd felt like puking. Whenever he'd had too many burgers, hot dogs, or steaks to even consider eating for the rest of his life, Loki would appear with something new that he had to try. At one point, Sam joked about being fattened up for the kill. It certainly felt like it, at least.

"You're so jaded," Loki had retorted with an eye roll. He did something to fix Sam's stomach though, and the hunter stopped feeling like he was about to explode. Of course, that turned out to be Loki's excuse to get Sam to eat a brownie sundae, which he reluctantly did.

"I have never eaten so much food," Sam moaned, falling backwards into the sand. Some small part of his mind acknowledged that getting the sand out of his hair was going to be a bitch, but he didn't really care.

"Too full to have that heart-to-heart?" Loki asked casually, but his tone was more sincere than his jokes earlier had been.

Sam reluctantly hauled himself back into a sitting position, coughing to disguise a burp and taking a swig of his beer. "No, I'm good."

They were both quiet for a moment, presumably because neither one really knew where to start. So far, everything had felt so natural. It was like the progression from friendship to kissing had made perfect sense, and the weird part was that it really did. Sam, now that he'd actually done it, didn't feel the least bit concerned about kissing Loki. Some part of him thought he should, and it was rattling around with the other thoughts he didn't want to spend too much time on, like how much Dean would have enjoyed the cookout.

"Geez, Samsquatch, you're thinking too loud." Loki rolled his eyes and shifted to face Sam. "This doesn't have to be complicated. We're friends, right? So what if that grows? We can totally be a thing without it being weird."

"A thing?" Sam questioned, his tone amused.

"Would you rather I called you my hunky boyfriend or my honey baby cupcake?" Loki asked in a perfect deadpan.

Sam stared at him for a split second before bursting into roaring laughter. Loki joined him, and it took a moment before they had quieted enough for Sam to say, "Okay, I get it. It just sounds very middle school."

Loki rolled his eyes again. "I say we enjoy ourselves and let it develop naturally. No forcing the issue. We want to kiss? We can do that. Hold hands? Sure, why not. Go on dates? Sounds like fun. Get frisky? All for it. Whatever you want, Sammy, I'm willing and ready. I'm good with this, honestly. We don't have to make it weird."

Sam nodded slowly, acknowledging that. "I doubt it gets much weirder than a hunter and a trickster getting into a relationship anyway," he pointed out.

"Point," Loki admitted. "Still, I'm not about to let that stop me. I mean, geez, kiddo, have you seen you lately?" He very obviously ran his eyes over Sam's bare chest, then up to his eyes, which he stared into meaningfully.

As intended, Sam blushed bright red, and shifted awkwardly. "You're one to talk," he half-heartedly accused, "Mr. Golden and shiny person."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Golden and shiny?" He echoed, amused. "Care to elaborate?"

"Your hair and eyes are stupid," Sam griped, eyeing the offending features as though jealous of their luster. "The light hits you just right and it looks like Rumpelstiltskin wove your hair and King Midas touched your eyes." He shifted again, looking embarrassed.

Loki was grinning, and he ran a hand through Sam's shaggy hair affectionately. "I'd try and offer you some compliment about your own frankly gorgeous hair and eyes, but it wouldn't sound even half as eloquent as that."

"It's not just that though," Sam blurted, blushing again when Loki fixed his stare on him. "I mean, yeah, the golden thing, but you're also..." He trailed off, hesitating, before rushing out what he meant to say. "You care, and I don't really get it, because I'm a headcase, but you care, and you saved me from myself, and you were a pain in my ass, and you still drive me nuts, but you're smart, and you're funny, and you can argue with me about anything from children's novels to national politics, and you grow, and you always want to spend time with me, and you're nice, and friendly, and you care about humanity in general even when you pretend you don't, and you have a moral compass that still works, and you're just..." Sam ran out of air and huffed. "You," he finished, taking another deep breath and relaxing slightly.

Loki was gaping at him, but it only took a minute before he had Sam wrapped into a hug that the hunter didn't even try to squirm away from. "Sammy, you realize that most of that is because of you in the first place, right? I wasn't kidding when I said you were my whole world. I mean, you're amazing. You care so much that it hurts to watch, and you never give up on anything. You're one of the smartest humans I've ever met, and I'm including the time I had lunch with Isaac Newton, who didn't take kindly to his wig turning pink, by the way. You love, and you lose, and you keep going, and your strength is just staggering. You read like books are going out of style, and you prefer fantasy to sci-fi, and you make me want to do the right thing, when I haven't even considered which way is North on that moral compass you mentioned in I don't know how many years. You're you, Samsquatch, and I'm constantly in awe."

There was a considerably long pause after that, where Sam and Loki simply sat together in the sand, Sam leaning against Loki's arms, which were still wrapped around his chest. It was quiet and comfortable, and neither of them felt the need to continue the conversation past that. Maybe they didn't have a label for whatever they were, but neither of them were too bothered about that. It was something for them to develop, and maybe it was beyond naming anyway.

"So," Sam finally said, breaking the soothing peace established by the background waves.

"So," Loki echoed, a smile audible in his voice. "What now, kiddo?"

Sam knew that the question could mean anything from what they should do next at the beach to what they should do next in the case of major life decisions, but he decided to answer it with an immediate goal in mind. "I think I want to kiss you again," He declared, shifting so he could see Loki's face, and smiling softly.

Loki smiled back at him broadly, nodding slightly. "I think I can get on board with that plan."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**

**A quick message to new readers desperate for new chapters - I try to update at least once a week, which I'm pretty good about. I do work full time, so it'll rarely be more than one a week, but it will be fairly consistent, so never fear, you will get new chapters!**

**Thanks to anna3311234, shahenaaz08, aLoggedInReader, hpfreak1993, FireChildSlytherin5, ughmerlin, PercyJfan1802, Annie, and Rose-Bloodwater13 for their reviews on chapter 10!**

* * *

**Chapter 11 - So, Now We're Dating**

Sam knew he had a thing for keeping track of firsts, but he'd sort of forgotten about it. Way back when, he'd been the one to keep a record of every time he and Jessica had done something for the first time, finding special little anniversary moments he could point to to surprise her with something sweet. First hug, first date, first time holding hands, first kiss, first time sleeping together, first night in their own apartment, first meal in the new apartment, and a whole host of other things. Jess had always lit up like a Christmas tree whenever Sam brought up a moment they'd hit the anniversary of, like it meant the entire world to her that he remembered that kind of stuff.

Then Jessica had died, and Sam had stopped consciously remembering firsts. He still had a head for it, and could probably tell you about plenty of firsts for himself and Dean after leaving Stanford, but he had stopped keeping track on purpose. He hadn't had a reason to. Dean obviously wasn't going to go doe-eyed in response to Sam mentioning it was the anniversary of his time shooting a rifle, or first time trying a bacon cheeseburger. Sam remembered that stuff, but didn't have someone who wanted to know anymore.

It was like deciding to become a 'thing' with Loki had flipped the switch back on, and suddenly Sam was hyper aware of every first they had. For him, every single first had the added caveat of 'with a man' tacked onto the end, which was both exhilarating and terrifying simultaneously.

The day after the beach was the first time they held hands. Loki seemed to have interpreted their evening together on the beach as a free pass to touch Sam whenever he felt like it and however much he wanted, and he most definitely took advantage. Not that Sam minded. Loki came back from work the next day to find Sam watching him on the television. He kissed the hunter hello, smiling and taking the seat beside him, reaching over to take his hand with no preamble. Sam had long since lost count of their kisses, since Loki was apparently trying to make up for lost time so far. The hand holding though was new, and Sam appreciated the strength and warmth he felt in that simple gesture.

Two days after that was the first time they cuddled, but also the first time Sam had ever sat in anybody's lap. Really, considering how much shorter Loki was, it should have been insanely weird. The trickster had made known his desire though, creating a gigantic bean bag out of thin air, and pulled Sam into it, not giving the hunter time to decide whether or not he had an objection. He decided he didn't as soon as he settled into Loki's arms and realized that the bean bag was full of some kind of shredded foam. It was insanely comfortable, and it wasn't even weird that he was literally sitting in the trickster's lap. They watched a three hour marathon of some British show about a prostitute, which had a storyline Sam found interesting and an actress Loki found hot. Dinner that night was predominately a debate over whether or not Sam would be a successful hooker. No real consensus was reached.

Their first continued like that, with Sam mentally documenting each time they did something new. They mainly stayed in the same general realm as kissing and cuddling, which was perfectly comfortable for both of them. Not that they didn't have a libido to satisfy or anything, but Sam knew he wasn't necessarily ready to jump into bed and from their current phase of comfortable dating to passionate lovers. Based on the way Loki was treating him, both respectfully and patiently, the trickster knew and understood. Sam was grateful for the gradual development of their relationship. He made a point to thank Loki about a week in, indicating to him that Sam was honored to be the recipient of what was easily the only significantly mature behavior Loki had ever exhibited with any consistency. Loki had smiled softly and told him that some things were worth behaving oneself for.

There was one day, about a week and a half into their relationship, when Loki popped into the living room from the back of the house. His random appearances didn't really startle Sam anymore, and he simply looked up from his book to smile in greeting, leaning forward for the hello kiss that had become their primary greeting. When he relaxed back into the chair, Loki continued to look at him with a twinkle in his eye.

"What?" Sam asked, self conscious.

"How many days has it been since our first kiss?" Loki shot at him, smiling at some private joke.

"Ten days," Sam answered automatically, feeling the tips of his ears go a little red at the quickness with which he'd been able to respond.

"First time sharing a desert?" Loki prompted.

"Four days," Sam replied, lips twitching at the memory. He'd been surprised when Loki had suggested it, and watching the trickster struggle to actually share the piece of chocolate cheesecake had been kind of charming. He had appreciated the gesture, and told Loki so.

"You're keeping track," Loki pronounced, grinning.

Sam shifted awkwardly in his seat, blushing again. "Yeah, maybe," he murmured. "It's just something I do."

Loki was a remarkably perceptive creature, and he hadn't missed the focus with which Sam cataloged any new activity, especially since they'd gotten together. "Well, I think it's adorable," He assured Sam with a grin.

The hunter blushed further, but smiled back. He hadn't been sure he'd ever find someone after Jessica that he'd care enough about to really want to savor those first moments with. Maybe ten days of dating, or whatever they were not-calling it, was far too soon to tell, but Sam was starting to think that Loki was quickly becoming what romantic writers so nauseatingly referred to as 'the one.' Maybe that idea should have scared him, but Sam felt awfully comfortable with it.

Three weeks after getting together, Sam and Loki had their first serious conversation as a couple. It began innocuously enough, given that they were simply leaning against each other on the couch, Sam idly watching a cop drama he'd found and Loki watching Sam.

The show ended, and the credits faded out, leading into the intro music for the next show. Sam flinched as if he'd been Tasered, immediately grappling for the remote, which he used to turn the television off as soon as he located the button. He knew Loki was staring at him, but he didn't look back up right away.

"That was some trigger, kiddo," Loki pointed out warily. "Want to tell me why crappy daytime tv has you so jumpy?"

Sam sighed deeply and leaned back against Loki, still not looking him in the eyes. "It's...um, it's this really stupid hospital drama, about these doctors and nurses that basically have a lot of sex and bad storylines, but no actual work that really happens in a hospital."

"Uh-huh," Loki prompted, still confused. "Like I said, crappy daytime tv. What, you don't like fake hospitals?"

"No, it's just." Sam huffed, frustrated with himself, and sighed again before answering. "Look, a while back we got holed up in some little town because Dean twisted his ankle pretty badly, and I didn't want to move on until he was off pain medication, just to be safe. He bitched about it, but finally agreed. We were low on cash, so I spent a lot of time at the bar, and he spent a lot of time watching tv. He got totally hooked on this show, Dr. Sexy M.D., but always pretended like he wasn't, you know? It took me awhile to figure out what he was watching, but I never brought it up. He would always make a point to catch up on new episodes when we had downtime, when I wasn't around and he had the laptop or tv to himself. He thought I didn't know, and I decided not to give him crap for it, since, you know, what's so bad about a harmless tv show when the rest of your life is crap?" Sam trailed off, the reminiscent tone in his voice fading.

"Ah." Loki had been quiet during Sam's story, and he placed his arm around Sam's shoulders, squeezing comfortingly. "Look, Sammy, I know we've kind of been dancing around the topic, but if you ever wanted to talk about it...about him, I'll listen. You know that, right?"

There was a long pause while Sam tried to decide whether or not he wanted to talk about it. "You know, that might not be a bad idea." He chuckled mirthlessly, but there was a spark of life to it. "If I keep repressing it or whatever the hell you can call what I've been doing, it'll probably all explode eventually."

"Then we'll talk about it," Loki stated firmly. He shifted so he and Sam were facing, and gave the hunter a soft look. "Whatever you want to talk about."

Sam paused again, then all of a sudden there was a torrent coming from his mouth. "It's just, god, I miss the weirdest stuff, you know? Like, things that used to drive me crazy. He'd do this thing, when he didn't want to hear what I had to say, where he'd just turn up the radio in the Impala so freaking loud, like the windows were going to shatter. I mean, surely there's a frequency on an Metallic cassette that'll crack glass, right? Or when he'd 'forget' to clean his guns just so I'd be stuck with the whole trunk load to take care of. I used to hate that, but I miss him dumping stuff like that on me so he could go flirt and steal. Or the times when I'd be busy, researching or something, and he'd just show up with like a fancy coffee drink or a donut or something random like that just to be nice, then he'd kind of make this face like if I acknowledged it I'd be committing a cardinal sin, and I should just tell him whatever the hell I'd found while he was out. He was just, like, the most aggravating and yet somehow awesome person ever. I...he's...he was..." Sam trailed off, losing steam and gaining a hitch in his throat.

"He _is_ your brother, Samsquatch," Loki said quietly. "Just because he's gone doesn't mean he stops being that. You can miss him, and all the quirks you lost with him, but you'll always have those memories, and in some ways, he's never going to really leave you."

Sam gave a sort of half sob and nodded, smiling slightly at Loki in acknowledgement. "Yeah. Thanks, Loki."

It was quiet for a moment before Loki commented softly, "You know, I understand losing family."

"You do?" Sam asked immediately, completely distracted by that admission. He didn't really know anything about Loki's family, potentially exaggerated Norse mythology aside.

"Oh yeah," Loki said sadly. "See, once upon a time, I had a huge family. When I say huge, I mean massive. So many brothers and sisters, and a father we all loved with our entire beings."

"Woah." Sam managed to say, overwhelmed by the fierce dedication in Loki's voice. "What...what happened?"

"Families fight," Loki sighed. "I had an older brother, well, two actually, who essentially best friends. Our father introduced a new element into our family, something He wanted us all to love and care for. Most of us were okay with that, but not my older brother. He argued furiously with our father, and my other brother, who had always been his partner, sided with our father. My older brother was kicked out of the house, so to speak, and it was made pretty clear that if he ever tried to come back and finish what he started, it was my other brother's obligation to take care of it. Take care of him. It wasn't too long after that that our father left home, deciding to let us learn how to make our own choices, instead of relying on Him for everything. I wasn't around for that part, but I felt it. I left during the chaos and fighting that surrounding my older brother's expulsion. Most of my family is alive and kicking, but home is just about the most painful place I know. I haven't spoken to my family in...well, awhile. So, I sympathize, kiddo. I know how it feels to lose your family. All of them."

Maybe it was just Sam's gift for empathy, or his knowledge of Loki, but he didn't reply with words. Instead, he tugged the trickster forward into a hug, engulfing the shorter man in a warm embrace for a long time. Neither of them seemed willing to separate.

"Maybe..." Sam started softly, "Maybe we can be each other's family."

Loki murmured his agreement, and his grip on Sam grew tighter, returned equally by the hunter. Nothing would pull them apart.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:**

**I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! I was pleased with how it turned out, so I'm glad you all were too! To the reviewers who are enjoying the story even though they don't like Sabriel, I'm taking that as a compliment, so I'm glad you're here!**

**Thanks to hpfreak1993, FireChildSlytherin5, aLoggedInReader, Annie, and one guest for their reviews on chapter 11!**

* * *

**Chapter 12 - Give A Moose A Library**

The thing about giving any intensely curious and insatiable hunter a magical bookshelf that will give him whatever he wants to read is that he'll take advantage of it. Sam was already reading a lot before the conversation he'd had with Loki, but he dove into mythological works and lore about the trickster after, determined to find out more. Something about Loki's story sounded sort of familiar, but Sam wasn't sure why, and he was planning to research until he figured it out.

After exhausting every single resource on Loki, mythology, and tricksters that existed, Sam moved on to other supernatural legends that fit the bill. He kept it a secret from Loki, because he was afraid that his curiosity would be perceived as a lack of trust. He did trust Loki, more than really made sense, but Loki was keeping a secret from him, and Sam wanted to know what it was.

It was about two weeks before Sam finally found what he was looking for. Loki's version of events was a little different, but Sam hadn't been imagining things when he'd thought certain elements of the story sounded familiar.

That night, Loki returned home to find Sam in front of the television with the Trickster Channel on, like normal, and a large leather-bound book in his hands. "What are you reading this time, Samsquatch?" Loki asked casually, peeking over the hunter's shoulder.

"The Bible," Sam replied distractedly, turning another page and resuming reading.

There was a pause, before Loki asked in what sounded like forced calm, "Any particular reason?"

"It's been awhile," Sam replied with a shrug. "I had to study it when I was younger, but I figured it was time I brushed up on my Biblical history. I kind of went through every mythological book I could get the bookshelf to give me."

Loki snorted, amused, and seemed to relax a little. "Well, don't strain yourself. What do you want for dinner?"

"Anything with potatoes," Sam suggested.

"Steak and potatoes it is," Loki confirmed, heading towards the kitchen. "Any special requests for desert!"

"Angel food cake with strawberries," Sam called after him, his tone purposefully casual. If he hadn't been listening for it, he probably wouldn't have even noticed the sudden stop and re-start in Loki's walk.

"Your wish is my command, kiddo," Loki hollered back.

Sam grinned at that, and returned to his reading. He was fully expecting to enjoy himself with this plan.

Step one of the plan was throwing out subtle hints, like reading the Bible and wanting angel food cake.

Step two of the plan was put into effect after dinner, when Sam turned on Touched By An Angel and let seven episodes play while he continued to read the Bible and let Loki play absentmindedly with his hair. That continued over to the next day, with Loki returning home to find Sam watching Angels In The Infield.

Step three of the plan was to ask more leading questions. Sam successfully started three different debates on the nature of morality and good versus evil with Loki, emphasizing the role of demons in the world, and how there ought to be a flip side to the coin. If humanity had to deal with demons, why didn't they also have God and His angels?

Sam could probably have drawn it out longer, but he was ravenously curious, and losing his ability to be subtle about it.

It was a week after Sam had started his plan that he gave up on anything remotely approaching subtlety and let Loki come home to find him finishing up with the movie Legion, and about to start on Constantine.

"All right, Samsquatch, spill," Loki demanded with a heavy sigh, dropping onto the couch and shifting Sam until they were facing, pausing the television with a wave of his hand.

"Spill what?" Sam asked, doing his best impression of a confused cocker spaniel.

"Don't give me the puppy face, Sammy," Loki warned. "I want to know what your sudden obsession with Heaven and everything is about."

Sam gave him a withering look and crossed his arms. "Really, Loki?"

Loki held up his hands in surrender. "What did I do?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Sam asked, leaving the venom out of the question. "I mean, did you think I wouldn't guess?"

It was silent for a moment, then Loki sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "No, I thought about it."

Thrilled at the admission, Sam immediately leaned forward. "So, I'm right?"

"Depends," Loki hedged. "What's your theory?"

"Well, you're not a trickster," Sam pointed out. "I always thought you were a little too powerful to be a trickster, even before I had reason to believe you were anything else."

Loki looked chagrined. "I'm kind of a sucker for showing off," he admitted.

"But it was your story about your family," Sam said gently. "It just sounded familiar, at least parts of it did, and so I started reading."

"Ah. Of course you did." Loki sighed again, relaxing against the back of the couch. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"No," Sam agreed, "You really shouldn't."

"So, how far did you get with this theory?" Loki prompted. "I want to see where you are before I start forking over sensitive information."

Sam made a face at him. "How about I tell you what I've guessed, and you tell me if I'm right or wrong."

"Sounds fair," Loki nodded. "Go ahead."

"You're an angel," Sam blurted.

Loki nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"And...you're in hiding?" Sam hazarded a guess.

"Two for two, kiddo," Loki smiled softly.

"So, what, you decided to go undercover as a god?" Sam asked, puzzled. "Isn't that a little...flamboyant?"

Loki made a face at him. "It's witness protection!" He defended. "Besides, the Host doesn't really bother with the pagan gods unless something big is happening, so it was a good place for me to be able to hide, but not go insane with boredom."

"Uh-huh." Sam was staring at him with equal parts fascination and disbelief.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Loki asked, squirming slightly under the attention.

"I think I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm dating an angel," Sam muttered, unable to move his eyes.

Startled, Loki had to laugh at that. "Well, to be completely honest with you, you're actually dating an archangel. It's a much bigger deal." He said the words in jest, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness to them.

Sam's jaw dropped in response. "Okay, so in your story, the older brothers are Michael and Lucifer, right?"

Loki nodded slowly. "I see you gleaned a few things from that Bible, then."

"So, does that make you...? I mean, are you...? Gah, how do I even ask this?" Sam started off attempting to address Loki, but ended up muttering to himself.

"Sammy," Loki called softly. When Sam looked up and their eyes met, he paused to take a deep breath, then offered quietly, "My name is Gabriel."

Sam was admirably attempting not to stare dumbfounded at the archangel, and failing miserably. "The Gabriel."

"Yes."

"Messenger of God?"

"Yes."

"Heralded the birth of Christ?"

"Yes."

"Holy crap."

Loki watched Sam process the new information with amusement, and leaned forward to lay a hand on Sam's shoulder. "I'm also the guy that happens to be head over heels for a certain hunter," he pointed out gently. "I take more pride in that than I do my former status in Heaven."

The magnitude of that statement seemed to rock Sam back on his heels, but he managed to bring himself back enough to ask, "Why me?"

Loki's eyes flashed at that. "Because you have the purest heart of just about any human I've ever laid eyes on," he said firmly. "You are what gives me any semblance of faith in humanity, and manage to surprise me all the time. You're amazing, Sam Winchester, and you had better not forget it."

Wisely, Sam decided not to argue that, and merely nodded in response. "So. Do I call you Gabriel or Loki?"

"What do you want to call me?" Loki offered, hesitant.

Sam paused, then said tentatively, "I think I'd like to call you Gabriel."

Pleased, the archangel nodded in assent. "I think I'd like that as well."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:**

**I just can't seem to stay away for very long, can I? You all were so pleased with the last chapter, and that just made my week, so I wrote another!**

**Thanks to ElkeCQuinn, aLoggedInReader, hpfreak1993, FireChildSlytherin5, anonymous, Annie, and Miamh for their reviews of chapter 12!**

* * *

**Chapter 13 - Questions And Answers**

It took all of an hour before Sam had slipped effortlessly from calling Gabriel by his full name into simply 'Gabe.' When he caught himself making the change, he had hesitated and shot the archangel a look, wondering if that was okay, and Gabriel had simply smiled warmly at him and winked. Sam decided that meant nicknames were fine, and not somehow irreverent.

Sam was determined not to pepper Gabriel with his thousand and one questions, but the archangel knew him well. After dinner that evening, Gabriel led him into the living room, sat him down on the couch, and waved his hand in an inviting gesture.

"What?" Sam asked, puzzled.

"Ask, Samsquatch," Gabriel emphasized, rolling his eyes. "You're practically vibrating with all those questions bouncing around in your head. Just get it over with already before you hurt yourself. I promise, I don't bite."

Sam smiled at that, and intwined his hand with Gabriel's. "I didn't want to be pushy," he admitted.

"Sammy, if you didn't have questions, I'd wonder when exactly you'd been abducted and replaced with a duplicate. Of course you have questions. I'll answer what I can, I promise." Gabriel smiled warmly and nodded, prompting Sam to begin.

Sam blew out a breath through his nose and nodded. "Okay, fine. Why did you choose to become Loki?"

"I didn't spontaneously become a prankster when I left Heaven," Gabriel pointed out. "It was a fitting role to adapt because it was already something I was good at. I just left some of my decorum behind in Heaven."

"So, what, does that mean you used to be well behaved?" Sam teased.

Gabriel shrugged. "Define well behaved. I was the least straight laced of the archangels, but I was still reverent. I decided that once I left Heaven, I might as well let myself abandon some of that. It wasn't as necessary outside my home, even in the pagan community."

Sam nodded slowly, absorbing that. "What about..." He hesitated, not sure if he could really ask.

"I know what you're going to ask," Gabriel informed him calmly. "Go ahead."

"What about the killing?" Sam asked quietly. "How did you justify it?"

Gabriel nodded once, knowing that the question had been coming. "Angels aren't cute and cuddly creatures, kiddo. We're instruments of justice. I chose a way to satisfy both my penchant for amusement and sense of justice. I only went after those who deserved to be taught a lesson, and I killed when I thought they were beyond changing their ways. It wasn't that different from being an angel, except maybe in my delivery. I get that you don't approve, and I can't say I'm proud of everything I did as Loki, but I don't feel like I betrayed Heaven in what I did. Not in spirit, at the very least."

Sam knew that he didn't have the ability to fully grasp every aspect of what Gabriel was telling him, but he thought he could understand somewhat, and tried to convey that with his expression. "So, when you said that the Tuesday thing was to stop me from down a bad road, did you know about that because you were an archangel?"

Gabriel blew air out through his teeth slowly and made a face. "That's a lot more complicated. Let me try to simplify it so I don't end up giving you a broad history of the world."

"I don't mind your stories," Sam pointed out.

Gabriel smiled at that and nodded. "All right then. So, I already told you about how Lucifer was cast out and Michael was set up to take care of him if he ever returned. That's the bare bones of it, at least."

"Right, I remember that. The fighting was why you left Heaven." Sam reiterated softly, not wanting to probe the old wound too much.

"Yeah," Gabriel confirmed, his grip on Sam's hand tightening. "So, Lucifer wasn't just cast out, he was locked away. In a special cage in Hell."

Sam made the connection immediately, and he blanched. "Killing Lilith would have set the devil free?" He asked breathlessly, eyes wide.

Gabriel nodded, eyeing Sam carefully. "When Lucifer gets free, it means war between my brothers. Most of the planet would be destroyed, and I didn't want to live through the fighting again if I could help it. What happened at the Mystery Spot was my poor attempt to push you away from the path Ruby was steering you towards. After Dean died, and I saw that it was going to happen if I didn't step in, I decided to just take off with you and rearrange the game board. If Lucifer was freed, I don't know that I could make myself get involved. I don't take part in the fights within my family. If I could prevent it from ever happening though..." Gabriel looked beseechingly at Sam, begging him to understand.

Sam shifted the hand that had been in Gabriel's grip up to the archangel's shoulder and nodded his understanding. "I get it, Gabe, I do. I may not be thrilled with your initial execution, but that was then. We both know each other so much better now, and I know that your heart was in the right place. I...I forgive you for everything before." As soon as the words were out, Sam realized he actually hadn't said them before. They'd been true for a long time, but he'd never actually said them aloud.

The effect on Gabriel was instantaneous. His expression lightened considerably, and he leaned forward to capture Sam's lips in a fervent kiss. When he moved back again, he rested his forehead against Sam's shoulder and murmured, "Thank you."

Sam pulled Gabriel into a hug, letting comfort come from his grip, and nestling his head into the hollow of Gabriel's shoulder. "Of course," He replied softly.

"There's more I know, about how everything is supposed to happen," Gabriel admitted. "But it's stuff I can't change, and I don't want to cause you to worry."

"How do you know you can't change it?" Sam asked cautiously.

Gabriel sighed, conveying the weight of many more years than could be fathomed. "Some things are fluid, like when the planned apocalypse is meant to come to fruition. It can be manipulated to fit a certain timeline, but it doesn't have to happen at any one time. It's a process that can be set in motion whenever the time is right. Other things are permanent, and must happen. Certain events must happen, certain people must die, certain people must be saved, and certain people must meet. I can't change those, and some of them are due to happen soon."

Sam made a thoughtful noise. "Are they things we need to worry about?"

Slowly, Gabriel shook his head. "Not on their own," he acknowledged slowly. "The Host would probably try and manipulate them towards the timeline they've decided to push, but I should be able to help on that end of things. I just can't do anything beforehand."

"That's really vague," Sam muttered, mostly to himself.

"I can't tell you everything," Gabriel said apologetically.

"It's okay, Gabe." Sam reassured him. "We don't need to worry, right? We can deal with any repercussions later."

Gabriel nodded in agreement. "You and me against the Host and the Horde," he muttered. "Hopefully we'll have back up."

Sam managed to chuckle at that, and he shifted their positons until they were lying together, Gabriel on top of Sam. "We can worry about tomorrow when it comes," he pointed out.

"You're just full of wisdom today," Gabriel teased him lightly, tilting his head up to kiss Sam again. "I like it."

Sam laughed and kissed him back, letting their movements distract from the intensity of their conversation. "We're together, Gabe," he murmured reassuringly. "We can handle what comes."

"Together," Gabriel repeated. After that, coherent speech became a secondary concern to their primary interest in each other.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:**

**You guys are great, and your reviews mean so much to me!**

**Thanks to hpfreak1993, aLoggedInReader, FireChildSlytherin5, MorbidApocalypse, ToxicTenshi, Annie, and Niamh for their reviews on chapter 13!**

* * *

**Chapter 14 - Perks Of Dating An Archangel**

The biggest difference in Sam's day-to-day life following the revelation that he was living with an archangel, not a trickster, was the amount of times he sat Gabriel down and declared it to be story time. That had been a common occurrence before, when he'd thought that the archangel was a Norse god, but after finding out he was really a member of the Host of Heaven, Sam was a lot more curious about the stories Gabriel had to tell.

For the first week after learning who Gabriel was, Sam managed to sit him down every night after dinner and worm a story out of him. Sometimes the stories were about historical figures that Gabriel had either known or screwed with, and others were about Biblical history, which Sam was more curious about than he'd ever been in his life. Something about having a real life archangel to question made Sunday School stories about one hundred times more interesting.

Gabriel gave off an air of tolerating Sam's questions, but he was actually enjoying himself. As God's messenger, the words Gabriel had spoken from Heaven had had significant consequences and important goals. As Loki, his words were often dismissed as flippant remarks. When Gabriel told Sam stories though, Sam hung on his every word, his expression indicating that he thought Gabriel might as well have hung the sun in the sky. It was a rush to have someone value his words again, and Gabriel had to admit he could get used to the feeling.

The other bonus of having Sam insist on having Gabriel tell him stories about history every night was that Gabriel ended up with a really good insight into things Sam liked. For example, Sam found stories about warriors, such as Genghis Khan or King David to be interesting, but it was the stories about Plato and Solomon that he was enthralled by. The fact that Sam preferred scholars to warriors wasn't exactly new information, but watching how Sam reacted to various stories gave Gabriel a new way to learn about the hunter, and he found himself enjoying it a lot.

That led to what Gabriel decided to call his master plan. He arrived home to find Sam in front of the Trickster Channel, as per usual, with a large volume of poems in front of him.

"Hey, Gabe," Sam greeted him, marking his spot on the page with his finger and looking up with a smile.

Gabriel leaned over the couch to give Sam a hello kiss, and smiled back. "Hey yourself, kiddo. Grab your stuff, we're going out!"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yep. And it's a secret, so don't try to worm it out of me." Gabriel pretended to zip his lips shut.

Deciding to play along, Sam went into his room to retrieve his jacket, then tugged on his boots and rejoined Gabriel by the couch. "All right, ready."

Gabriel eyed him speculatively. "Not yet." He snapped his fingers, and a cherry red piece of cloth appeared over Sam's eyes, tied tightly in the back to create an effective blindfold. "Now you're ready!"

"Gabe!" Sam protested, but he didn't remove the cloth. Instead, he found Gabriel's with his own and took hold, relaxing slightly and huffing. "Fine. Surprise me."

"I intend to," Gabriel assured him. With another snap of his fingers, they disappeared from his living room and reappeared in an empty field.

"We're outside," Sam stated, taking in what he could from his other senses.

"For now," Gabriel amended. He closed his eyes and focused on the empty space, envisioning what he wanted to appear. Where there once was a plain green field, suddenly there was a building, and Gabriel felt intensely pleased with himself. Turning back to Sam, he said quietly, "You ready, kiddo?"

"I guess?" Sam offered, not sure what exactly he was meant to be ready for.

Gabriel reached up and removed the blindfold, stepping back slightly to give Sam a moment to adjust to light again.

Sam blinked slowly, regaining his natural eyesight, then nearly collapsed at the sight. "Oh my god. Is this...?" Sam trailed off, fascinated by first the architecture, then the scrolls, then the overall grandeur of it all.

"Welcome to the Library of Alexandria," Gabriel announced, his voice soft.

Taking a step forward, Sam exhaled slowly, his expression one of pure awe. "Gabriel..." he breathed, unable to really say anything else.

It was a heady thing for the archangel to hear someone say his name with that much reverence, and a smile spread across his face as he watched Sam tentatively walk forward into the building.

"How?" Sam asked quietly, unable to tear his gaze away from the scrolls.

"Generated from memory," Gabriel explained. "Time travel is really draining and kind of impractical. I can maintain this kind of construct for a lot longer, and I was there a few times, so it should be mostly accurate."

"This is amazing," Sam breathed, shifting his gaze to Gabriel for the first time since the blindfold has been removed. "You're amazing."

"I try," Gabriel commented. He winked at Sam and stepped forward to take his hand again. "Take as much time as you want. There's like a crap ton of books in here. Or scrolls. Whatever."

Sam chuckled and squeezed Gabriel's hand in response. "I don't even know where to start."

Gabriel leaned over and swiped a scroll off a nearby shelf and thrust it into Sam's free hand. "Start there."

"What is it?" Sam asked curiously, unrolling it slightly to squint at the hieroglyphics.

"Beats me. You gotta start somewhere though, right?" Gabriel pulled him over to a table and sat him down, taking the scroll and laying it out. "This is as good a place as any."

"You realize I don't read hieroglyphics, right?" Sam asked wryly. "It's not really a biggie in a hunter's education."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. The script on the scroll morphed into English. "There. Only the Egyptian ones are in English though. You can make do with the Latin and Greek."

Sam was already focused on the scroll, but he glanced up and squinted at Gabriel. "Latin, sure, but Greek? I'm pretty rusty."

"I have faith in you," Gabriel told him seriously, his lips twitching with amusement. "So, what's your first scroll about?"

Sam looked back down, scanning the lines. Slowly he began turning red, and he coughed in embarrassment. "Uh, I think it's like a literary analysis on a very detailed epic romance." He read a few more lines and grew even redder. "Yeah, make that extremely detailed."

Gabriel nodded seriously. "Large parts of the Library are textual and literary criticism," he commented. "There's a lot of science and mathematics stuff too."

Sam rolled the scroll back up and handed it to Gabriel. "Okay, I vote we stick to historical and educational works."

Gabriel took the scroll and unrolled it, peering at the words. He shrugged and offered, "This seems very educational to me."

Chuckling, Sam rolled his eyes. "Of course it does." He reached behind him to a cart and pulled a new scroll free, raising an eyebrow when it proved to be in Latin. "You read it, then, and be educated. I'll read..." He translated the first few lines in his head, mouthing the English as he thought, before finishing, "this history of a wealthy merchant family from Rhodes. I think."

Smiling at him fondly, Gabriel sat down with the original scroll and put his feet up, nodding once. "Whatever you say, Samsquatch. I'm pretty sure mine's more entertaining though."

It took Sam about an hour of muddling through the Latin to decide Gabriel was probably right, but the fact that he was reading a Latin scroll in the Library of Alexandria kind of made up for it.

There were a lot of amazing things about being in a relationship with an archangel, but one of them was definitely that archangel's ability to bring to life significant meccas of knowledge from the ancient world. Sam was pretty much beyond impressed by that. If the pleased smirk on Gabriel's face was anything to go by, he knew it too.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:**

**This chapter will lead directly into chapter 16, which I'll hopefully get up tomorrow. That chapter will be responsible for the M rating I gave this fic on day one, just so you're aware.**

**Thanks to hpfreak1993, aLoggedInReader, Tawariell, ToxicTenshi, FireChildSlytherin5, Annie, Niamh, and tolko5menya for their reviews on chapter 14!**

* * *

**Chapter 15 - Human Dating**

About two weeks later, Sam snagged Gabriel on his way out the door and pulled him onto the couch, earning a surprised grunt and a chuckle.

"What's up, Samsquatch?" Gabriel asked curiously, eyeing the much taller man speculatively.

Sam blushed slightly and brushed stray hairs out of his face, adjusting his position so he was facing Gabriel. "I want to do something special tonight."

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell."

"So, since we started..." Sam trailed off, eventually gesturing to himself and Gabriel before continuing with, "...this, we've gone to cool places, done exciting things, and spent a hell of a lot of time curled up on the couch. That's awesome, don't get me wrong, but I want to do something specific with you."

"I'm intrigued, kiddo. Lay it on me." Gabriel relaxed against the side of the couch, a playful smile on his lips.

"I want to have a human date," Sam announced.

Gabriel opened his mouth, shut it, thought for a second, opened it again, shut it, thought for a moment, then finally asked, "What exactly does a human date entail?"

Sam grinned at him. "You pick some ridiculously fancy restaurant, we get dressed up, we eat out, and you pay, mostly because I don't have cash in any currency, and no credit cards that legally belong to me. After we eat, we talk a walk somewhere scenic and talk about whatever we want, then we return home to remove each other's clothes and get busy."

Gabriel was about half a second away from making fun of Sam for saying 'get busy' before the meaning of the euphemism caught up with him. For all the touching, cuddling, kissing, hand holding, and other general intimacy they shared, he and Sam hadn't really made a point of rushing into a more physical relationship. Gabriel didn't have a reputation as being patient, but he hadn't wanted to make it seem like he was pushing the idea. "You sure you're ready for that, Sammy?" Gabriel asked seriously, leveling his gaze at the hunter.

"Yes, Gabe, I'm definitely ready." Sam nodded once, equally sincere. "I don't just want to randomly jump into something like that though, not with...this." He gestured vaguely to himself and Gabriel once again, apparently not having a word for whatever their relationship was. "I want to do the whole cliche dinner followed by passion thing. I want to be able to visit ancient burial grounds with you and hear stories about long dead gods, but also be able to go eat fancy food and talk about things that are normal and then be together like any couple would be." He paused, seeming to realize he'd said couple, and not sure if that was right.

"Why do you do that?" Gabriel asked curiously.

"Do what?" Sam replied, caught off guard.

"Shy away from common relationship words. Not that I'm saying we need to put a label on it, but you could call me your boyfriend and I'd be okay with that, the same way we could say we're dating, or that we're a couple. Just because it doesn't really encompass everything that we are doesn't mean you can't say it." Gabriel shrugged and smiled disarmingly. "It's not making it sound less important if you use normal descriptions like that."

Sam considered that for a moment, nodding slowly. "You're right."

"I'm always right," Gabriel commented casually.

It took a second, but then Sam was grinning, rolling his eyes. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"

"All right, kiddo, I gotta get to work. So, dinner tonight. I'll pick you up at eight." He snapped his fingers, and smiled winningly. "Have fun dressing up. There's a new wardrobe in your room."

"With suits, right?" Sam double checked, not putting it past Gabriel to give him ball gowns.

Gabriel made a face at him. "What do you take me for?" He asked in mock offense.

"A trickster, wings or not," Sam pointed out, amused.

Gabriel shrugged. "Fair point. Yes, your wardrobe has suitably manly attire. I'll see you at eight." With a parting wink, Gabriel vanished.

Sam briefly considered going to read for awhile or watch the television, but gave up on distractions in favor of the wardrobe. Maybe he had a thing for a nice suit.

* * *

Apparently when Gabriel had said he was picking Sam up at eight, he meant arriving at the front door in a limo, wearing an emerald suit with a gold tie and impossibly shiny brown shoes. On anyone else, it might have looked like a tacky show host's outfit, but on Gabriel, it was the epitome of class, in a way that shouldn't have been possible.

Sam had finally settled on a navy blue suit that fit his figure perfectly, and he'd chosen silver accents for it, giving himself a very subtle elegance, as opposed to Gabriel's more flashy nature.

"Remind me why I've never put you in a suit before?" Gabriel greeted him, staring with wide eyes at the hunter's attire.

In spite of himself, Sam blushed, and he made a face at Gabriel to cover it up. "Because I spend most of my time on your couch with my nose in a book, no reason to dress up."

"We need to fix that," Gabriel decided, taking Sam's arm and tugging him out the door.

"Are we driving somewhere?" Sam asked, giving the limo a curious glance.

"Nah. I mostly got that for style." Gabriel grinned easily as they slid inside, handing Sam a glass of champagne. "To our first human date," he offered.

Sam chuckled and clinked glasses with him, taking a small drink and nearly moaning aloud. "This is freakishly good," He commented, clearly surprised.

"Of course it is," Gabriel scoffed. "When have you known me to not go after the best?"

Sam had to admit that was true, and he relished his entire glass of champagne as the limo drove on.

After about fifteen minutes, Gabriel set down their glasses and announced, "Time to arrive." Snapping his fingers, both men suddenly found themselves in a very nice restaurant that had windows everywhere, seemingly all around the room.

Sam ignored Gabriel and the hostess, following them to the table and sitting down in the chair Gabriel pulled out for him. He stared out the floor to ceiling windows and eventually asked, "Gabe...are we inside the Space Needle?"

"Yep," Gabriel replied casually. "Welcome to Seattle."

Laughing out loud, Sam couldn't peel his eyes away from the windows. The view was incredible. The sun was also out, which made Sam start to count backwards in his head to figure out what time it was. "So, technically this is like an early lunch," he pointed out to Gabriel.

"Well, here it is," Gabriel admitted. "We're on a different clock, so we'll call it dinner. Semantics."

Sam chuckled and finally managed to bring his gaze back to Gabriel. "It feels weird to know I'm back in the US right now," he admitted.

"I thought you might appreciate the view," Gabriel explained, taking a look out the windows for himself. "It's not half bad. You're far more stunning in that suit though."

Sam flushed immediately, amused with the cliche and feeling complimented at the same time. "Yeah, well, you look really good too. So far, so good, right?"

"Right," Gabriel confirmed, picking up a menu. "Let's order, and then we can have normal getting to know you couple's conversation. Sound good?"

Amused, Sam nodded. He scanned the menu, raising his eyebrows at certain ingredient combinations that sounded bizarre, but he eventually settled on a salad that seemed to contain a variety of interesting elements.

Gabriel ordered a steak, then leaned forward on the table and focused all of his attention on Sam. "So, Samsquatch, what's your favorite color?"

"Blue," Sam replied, after a moment's thought. "Yours?"

"Crimson," Gabriel announced, arching his eyebrows for emphasis. "Plus gold."

Sam nodded, unsurprised by that information. He knew that a majority of the underwear Gabriel owned was bright red or gold, and that was only because the archangel was apparently unfazed by the idea of parading around in his underwear, even before he and Sam had progressed to anything resembling a relationship. "Favorite animal?"

"Dog," Gabriel answered without thinking. "I usually have a dog, actually. The last one was a few years ago, and I hadn't gotten around to replacing her."

"I love dogs," Sam said eagerly. "What kinds have you had?"

The following conversation about dogs lasted until their food arrived, which they ate while they discussed the merits of cocker spaniels versus poodles, and Gabriel explained how instead of simply snapping a dog into existence, which he was perfectly capable of doing, he always adopted a dog from whatever shelter was close by. All of his dogs had been rescues, and he liked the idea of giving an animal a home that needed one, instead of creating a pet for himself.

By the time that conversation had ended, Sam had expressed his desire to have a labrador someday, and Gabriel had essentially promised him that they'd go looking for a dog to adopt sometime soon.

"All right, so do you watch any sports?" Gabriel tried, searching for other generically human conversation.

Sam shrugged. "Not really. Sometimes, if it was on, but I didn't follow any teams or anything."

"Me either," Gabriel admitted. "I always watch the Olympics though."

Sam snorted. "Why?" He couldn't think of a reason for a powerful archangel to make a habit of watching a human wordwide sports competition.

"It's not just pitting teams against each other for an arbitrary goal," Gabriel explained. "These are people that train their asses off and compete for an ultimate honor. It's something I admire in humanity, that drive."

Nodding slowly, Sam decided that made sense. "I can see that. I always liked Olympic swimming and gymnastics."

"Gymnastics is pretty awesome," Gabriel agreed. "I'm not sure half of those movements were part of my Father's original design."

The absurd turn their conversation had taken occurred to Sam, and he chuckled in response. "I've got one for you. Favorite desert."

"Donuts. Also candy. Pie is good too. Ooh, and chocolate cake. Can I say brownies too?" Gabriel started ticking off fingers as he listed deserts.

Sam laughed out loud at Gabriel's enthusiasm. "I'm not surprised. I happen to like carrot cake."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "You had to pick the desert with a vegetable in it?"

"I swear I didn't do it on purpose!" Sam protested. "I just like the taste! Pie is good too. Trust me, I'd have been practically disowned if I didn't like pie."

The archangel knew enough about Dean Winchester to know that was true, and laughed at the idea. "Fine, favorite flavor of pie?"

"Probably apple or peach," Sam mused.

"Apple, cherry, rhubarb," Gabriel started listing off flavors, ignoring Sam chuckling at him in response.

"When I said favorite desert, you could have just said sugar," Sam pointed out.

Gabriel grinned broadly. "That too."

The conversation was aptly timed, and they ended up agreeing on two pieces of pie for desert, one apple and one cherry, and planned to each have half. It ended up being a lot messier and less precise than that, but they agreed that it was good pie, and Sam appreciated the ability to enjoy something that reminded him of Dean without having a sharp pang of loss diminish the joy that came with the memory. Gabriel had that effect on him, making him able to enjoy things more, and anguish over them less. It made Gabriel's presence quite a comfort.

The dinner that was far too early in the day to be dinner for the time zone they were in had been very good, and Gabriel took Sam's hand in his as they left, transporting them to a lovely walking trail in a park that was astoundingly green. It was later in the day, wherever they were, and they walked and talked about meaningless little things that they never really discussed. It had been like it was at dinner, where the conversation didn't have anything useful as its goal, other than getting to know the other person better. Sam had known about Gabriel's motivations, hopes, and fears, but before the dinner and the walk could not have said what the archangel's favorite song was. It turned out to be a tie between Bohemian Rhapsody and Final Countdown, which Sam thought made perfect sense, while being simultaneously amusing.

Sam's internal clock let him know it was getting late in the evening, and he began to feel something he might have called anxiety as he realized they would be returning to the villa soon. As much as he wanted the evening to end they way they'd discussed, he couldn't help but wonder exactly how it was all going to work out.

"You ready, Sammy?" Gabriel asked him reassuringly, squeezing his hand and smiling broadly.

Immediately Sam relaxed, and nodded confidently. "Absolutely."

With a snap, they were home.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:**

**Couldn't keep you waiting too long! This should be obvious, but I'm going to warn for smut anyway for this chapter, just in case some innocent minds snuck in when I wasn't looking. I'm excited for the next part of the story, since chapter 17 is the one I've spent the most time thinking about, so I'll hopefully get to it soon!**

**Thanks to aLoggedInReader, ToxicTenshi, hpfreak1993, Niamh, Annie, and FireChildSlytherin5 for their reviews of chapter 15!**

**Niamh gets a special shout out for making me laugh out loud when I saw her review this morning!**

* * *

**Chapter 16 - Coming Home**

Sam almost laughed when they appeared in Gabriel's bedroom, only a few feet from the gigantic and luxurious bed. It was exactly the same as Sam's bed, as far as the mattress went, but Gabriel's was considerably more ornate and colorful. The fact that they'd appeared in the bedroom and not the hallway or living room made it blatantly obvious what the plan was.

Gabriel grinned in response and shrugged. "I can't say I'm one for foreplay," he admitted casually.

"I don't mind," Sam replied, closing the distance between them to pull Gabriel into a kiss. They stood like that for a moment, just enjoying each other and having a mild fight for dominance between tongues. In the end, Gabriel won, and somehow managed to take complete control of the kiss in a matter of seconds.

When they finally broke apart out of a necessity to breathe, Gabriel demanded breathlessly, "As much as I love it, it's time to lose the suit, Samsquatch."

Sam chuckled and unbuttoned the jacket, letting it fall to the floor to reveal the pressed white shirt and clean cut suit vest beneath. Both articles of clothing hugged him perfectly, and if the look in Gabriel's eyes was any indication, the archangel had lost his train of thought.

"That's it, no more plaid," Gabriel said firmly, reaching forward to run his hands over the tailored fabric encasing the hunter's torso. "You're only allowed to wear suits now. With vests. Always."

Still laughing under his breath, Sam took advantage of Gabriel's complete attention to make a little show out of taking the vest and dress shirt off, loosening the tie and pulling the shirt out from underneath it, leaving his torso bare, with only the silver tie hanging down to obscure his muscular form.

"Or naked. Naked is good too," Gabriel muttered, eyes wide and a broad grin on his face. "Hot damn, Sammy."

Blushing, Sam very nearly squeaked when Gabriel grabbed hold of the tie, pulling Sam forward into another kiss, holding him in place with the tie and switching their positions so Sam was closest to the bed, shuffling them backwards until Sam fell onto the mattress with a grunt.

"I intend to enjoy every inch of you," Gabriel announced, undoing the tie deftly and ripping it away from Sam's neck. "This might take awhile." He adjusted Sam's position on the bed with no effort, leaving the hunter spread out on the mattress, and straddled him, leaning forward to nibble at Sam's collarbone.

"Gah!" Sam let out a half grunt, half moan in response, and fumbled helplessly with the sheets for a moment before panting, "Why are you still wearing clothes?" He thought he might have sounded a bit like a petulant child, but decided he didn't care.

Gabriel winked at him and snapped his fingers, immediately baring his own chest. "Better, kiddo?"

Sam was almost surprised by how fit Gabriel looked. He was hardly muscular, not in the way Sam was, but his body had the kind of form to it that implied care, and it was certainly an attractive view. He was soft in a comforting way, but not a slovenly way, and Sam reached up to run his hands down Gabriel's chest, scratching lightly at his nipples and reveling in the gasping response he got. "Much better," He confirmed with a wink of his own.

"Good. Now, as I was saying..." Gabriel trailed off and returned to Sam's collarbone, nipping and kissing his way along the sharp line of bone.

Sam couldn't really do much besides hold on, and his random grasping at Gabriel's back was probably leaving scratches from his fingernails.

Gabriel shimmied downwards and began to attack Sam's chest with kisses and bites, paying special attention to his nipples and alternating biting and licking at them after discovering exactly how sensitive Sam was to attention there. Once he had Sam gasping for breath, he continued his journey downwards, exploring the planes and contours of the muscular torso laid out before him. Eventually, he reached Sam's waistline, and he looked up at Sam and grinned, wiggling his eyebrows as he popped the button on Sam's suit pants.

"Gah, Gabe, you're going to kill me," Sam complained, panting the words out. He groaned as the zipper on his pants was dragged slowly downward in Gabriel's teeth, the archangel grinning as he did so. Sam's boxers were basic black, and appeared much tighter than they actually were due to the tent Sam's cock was making of them.

"There are worse ways to go," Gabriel teased him, leaning down and breathing warmly on the thin cloth encasing Sam's erection.

Sam exhaled sharply and barely restrained himself from thrusting into the air in response. "Pants. Off. Now." He demanded. "Both of us!"

With one swift movement, Gabriel had Sam's pants on the floor, but he stood above Sam to remove his own, rather than snapping them off. Wiggling his hips, he thumbed open the button and slowly dragged the zipper down, finally pulling his own pants off in a smooth motion, dropping them beside Sam's pants on the floor.

"Commando, ha! Why am I not surprised?" Sam huffed out a laugh, trying not to be too obvious as he ogled Gabriel's freed cock. His own was still trapped in his boxers, and he thought that was something that ought to be remedied right away.

Straddling Sam again, Gabriel began playing with the waistband of his boxers, winking at Sam's comment. "Of course! I had plans, after all." He inched Sam's boxers down, slowly revealing the hunter's erection, before finally divesting him of the garment and dropping it off the side of the bed. Without giving Sam time to respond, he leaned down and took Sam all the way down in one go.

"HOLY-" Sam broke off, panting and thrusting up, hardly able to contain himself. For someone who spent as much time with something in his mouth as Gabriel, Sam really shouldn't have been surprised that he was skilled in this particular arena. Within seconds the archangel had reduced his hunter to a moaning and quivering mess. Right as Sam thought he'd not be able to control himself, Gabriel pulled off, resulting in a whine of protest from Sam.

"Not so fast, Sammy," Gabriel murmured. "We haven't even gotten to the main event yet!" He shifted forward along Sam's body, dragging their erections against each other as he moved forward to kiss the hunter.

Sam moaned as he tasted himself on Gabriel's lips, something that he wouldn't have ever assumed he'd find hot. As soon as they broke apart again he was gasping, "You, I want you to do it."

Gabriel paused, considering that. "You sure?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Sam chanted. "Freaking now, Gabe, please!"

"Well, now, how can I resist that?" With a grin, Gabriel snapped his fingers and produced strawberry flavored lube, noting that Sam was clearly out of it enough to not even tease him about it. Slicking up two fingers, Gabriel reached down and found Sam's entrance, marveling at how relaxed Sam remained, even at the first touch of the cool lube. "Ready?"

"Yes, now get on with it already!" Sam demanded, tensing just slightly as Gabriel breached him with one finger, but immediately relaxing again, breathing smoothly as he adjusted to the sensation. It may have been a new experience, but Sam knew enough to know that relaxing was important, and he focused on that as Gabriel slowly opened him up.

Gabriel barely contained a low moan at how tight Sam felt around his fingers, adding the second finger and then slicking up a third, just to be safe. Sam opened up beautifully around him, and suddenly Gabriel couldn't wait any longer. He quickly slicked himself up with lube, wiping away the excess on the sheets below. He could always snap them clean afterwards. Lining himself up, he paused just slightly, but before he could say anything Sam interjected.

"Gabe, please, now, please!" The hunter was writhing, half from the stimulation and half from the anticipation.

Without comment, Gabriel slid inside, groaning at how hot and tight Sam felt around him. As soon as he was fully seated, he paused to let Sam adjust, then pulled back slowly, rocking forward equally slowly to get Sam used to the feeling.

"Gabe," Sam moaned, mindlessly thrusting back against the archangel, who wasn't increasing his speed in response. "Faster!"

Smiling at that, Gabriel nodded once, even though Sam wasn't really looking at him. Without warning, he thrust hard into the hunter, causing the larger man to grunt in response, then pulled out and did it again, shifting his angle so this time he landed a direct hit on Sam's prostate when he entered.

"OH MY GOD," Sam yelped, that particular sensation brand new. "Do that again, Gabe, please."

Gabriel grinned broadly, pleased at the response. He set up a rhythm, rocking into Sam at a steady but quick pace, hitting the hunter's prostate with nearly every pass. Within moments, Sam was trembling.

"I'm not gonna...Gabe, I'm going to...I can't..." Sam rambled, grasping at the sheets and alternatively at Gabriel's hands, which were clamped around Sam's hips.

"It's okay, Sammy," Gabriel assured him, teetering on the edge himself. He moved one hand to encircle Sam's cock, jacking him smoothly in rhythm with his thrusts. "Now."

They came together nearly in unison, Sam preceding Gabriel only by a few seconds. With a gasp that was a mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration, Sam blinked blearily, trying not to sink into oblivion quite yet.

"Wow," Gabriel commented, sliding out and collapsing just to the side of Sam, nestled against the hunter's body.

"Yeah," Was all Sam could say.

They stayed like that, quiet and comfortable against each other, until they slowly became aware of the fact that they were on top of the blankets, not under them, and the blankets in question were pretty messy.

"I don't wanna move," Sam mumbled, glaring at the sheets like they'd personally offended him by getting messy.

"Problem solved," Gabriel announced, snapping his fingers. The bed covers were immediately fresh and clean, as were Gabriel and Sam themselves. Gabriel slid the blankets out from under them and pulled them over, nestling back in next to Sam and sighing contentedly. "Now we can sleep."

"Night, Gabe," Sam murmured, shifting so he could kiss Gabriel goodnight.

Returning the kiss, which was sweet and simple, Gabriel replied softly, "Night, Sammy."

* * *

Gabriel didn't really need to sleep, but he wasn't going to turn down the chance to sleep with Sam, so he lay beside the hunter all night, basking in the man's warmth and recalling their evening activities with a smile. He had settled back down, preparing to simply rest, if not actually sleep, when a sudden announcement from Heaven cut through his mind, startling him. He hadn't been listening in to the angels since he left, not wanting to inadvertently provide a way to be tracked. In all the time that had passed since Gabriel had left Heaven, this was the first time he'd heard any angelic messages. This one though, this one was loud, significant, and impossible to ignore.

"DEAN WINCHESTER HAS BEEN SAVED."


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note:**

**I'M VERY EXCITED. Seriously, I've been waiting for this chapter for forever, so I'm psyched to actually post it! Also, I'm still riding a high from yesterday's episode, which made me laugh out loud repeatedly.**

**Also, you all were fabulously complimentary on my last chapter, which makes me very happy, so I'm endlessly grateful for that.**

**Thanks to anna3311234, hpfreak1993, shahenaaz08, ToxicTenshi, aLoggedInReader, better-in-black-since-1234, FireChildSlytherin5, oscarthegrouch1812, and Annie for their reviews on chapter 16!**

* * *

**Chapter 17 - Back From The Dead**

Sam awoke in a familiar bed, in a familiar room, with a familiar face staring at him. And none of it was the same as where he'd fallen asleep. Jolting upright in shock, he belatedly noticed that he was fully clothed, jeans and a blue plaid shirt, and Bobby was staring at him like he had four heads.

"Bobby?" Sam asked, still a little confused. How the hell had he wound up in Bobby's guest room? The last thing he remembered, he had fallen asleep wrapped around Gabriel, completely naked, in the most comfortable bed on the planet. Not that Bobby's guest bed was bad, it just didn't really compare.

"You're in my house, boy," Bobby pointed out. "Stands to reason I'd be here. The real question is, where the hell did you spring from?"

Starting to become more aware, Sam realized his hand was wet and had a small cut on it. So, Bobby had already figured out he was human. Well, that would save some time. "You tell me," he griped. "You didn't do something to bring me here?"

"No," Bobby said slowly, looking at him appraisingly. "I came upstairs to get something from the closet and found you instead. I'm still trying to figure out why."

"Join the club," Sam huffed, irritated. Clearly Gabriel had sent him away. The real question was why. A small part of Sam worried that he'd been abandoned, but the larger part of him didn't really believe Gabriel capable of that. He just had to find out what the archangel's reasoning was.

"I'm having a weird day," Bobby muttered.

"What, something weirder than this?" Sam asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Bobby started to open his mouth, then stopped and motioned for Sam to follow him. "Come on. I have something to show you."

Sam followed Bobby down the stairs, noting that everything looked pretty much the same as it had the last time he was there. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary stuck out. "Where are we going exactly?" Sam wondered, puzzled.

"Outside," Bobby grunted, stepping out the front door and indicating for Sam to continue following. As they rounded the corner towards where the Impala was usually parked, Bobby started shaking his head and muttering, looking both exasperated and confused.

Only a few more steps, and Sam stopped dead, staring. "Dean?" The name fell from his lips without his permission, his shock taking hold.

Dean, who had been leaning over the hood of his beloved car, stood up straight and whirled around, eyes wide. "Sam?"

Bobby eyed them both for a moment, then said, "You're both one hundred percent pure human Winchester. I don't know how either of you got here, but you're here, so hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess."

As soon as Bobby confirmed he'd already made sure they were both really them, Sam took two steps and threw his arms around Dean, gripping him tightly and relishing how Dean's arms immediately encircled him to return the firm hug.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dean growled. "Bobby told me you disappeared after calling to tell him you were being kidnapped! Not exactly the first thing I wanted to hear when I got back."

"It's a long story," Sam hedged, not letting go just yet. "Hey, at least the Impala's good, right?"

"Thanks," Dean offered, started to release his grip slightly. "We're talking about your disappearing act though."

Sam reluctantly separated from his brother. "I'm more interested in finding out how you're here," he admitted.

"Join the club," Bobby snarked, returning Sam's words from earlier. "We were wondering if you'd done something stupid when you disappeared off the face of the planet."

"Don't be dramatic, I was still on the planet," Sam grumbled.

"Where on the planet?" Dean asked pointedly.

Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It's a _really_ long story. Can we...I don't know, just, appreciate the whole both being alive thing for a minute?"

Dean made a face at him, but nodded. "Yeah, sure. Beers?"

Grinning, Sam nodded. "Beer sounds good."

"As long as you idjits stock up my fridge before you disappear again," Bobby groused.

"Ah, don't be such a spoil sport, old man!" Dean teased, tossing an arm around Bobby's shoulders.

The easy banter that reappeared with such immediacy made everything seem so normal, like Sam hadn't been in Italy for almost four months, Dean hadn't been in Hell, and Bobby hadn't been worried the whole time.

Bobby pulled the beer out of the fridge and the three of them settled onto the couch, alternating between mild bickering and silence. It was hard to decide what to talk about, since Dean hadn't exactly been on vacation, Sam didn't really want to go into his disappearance, and Bobby had mostly been doing the same thing he'd always done.

After about fifteen minutes of awkward attempts at conversation, Dean turned to face Sam with an expectant expression. "Spill, dude. Bobby said you called, told him you were being kidnapped, but that it was a good thing, somehow magicked the Impala to his house, and then vanished for months."

Sam gnawed on the inside of his cheek. "Okay, this is really complicated." He blew at a breath and inhaled slowly, trying to decide how the hell he was supposed to tell this story.

_IT WAS THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT!_

The music rang out from Sam's phone sharply, and he almost fell off the couch in shock. The display clearly read "Gabriel," a change he'd input into his phone right after discovering who the archangel really was, although he'd never assigned him a personalized ringtone. Apparently Gabriel had done that himself.

Sam stood up and answered the call, holding up a finger when Dean started to ask. "First of all, that is so not funny. Second of all, you'd better have a damn good explanation for this, because I'd say we're all pretty confused across the board."

"It's a little funny, and it's also really complicated, Samsquatch." Gabriel's voice was refreshing, even though it really hadn't been that long since he'd heard it.

"Well, you did the whole love 'em and leave 'em thing, so I'm owed an explanation," Sam snapped, still irritated about that. Dean raised an eyebrow, and Sam scowled at him.

"I'm sorry, Sammy," Gabriel sounded properly apologetic, which was reassuring. "I had to go track down one of my brothers. Turns out raising someone from Hell is kind of a big deal, and I need to make sure certain plans don't start rolling as a result. Speaking of which, say hi to Dean-o for me."

"Oh no," Sam interjected, skipping over the part about the angels and their plans. "I do not want to have that conversation."

"Well, look at it this way. If you talk him down before I actually come visit, we won't have to deal with flying knives and/or bullets later." Gabriel pointed out, sounding like he was smirking.

Sam grunted, knowing he was right. "Fine. You owe me, you know that?"

"Ice cream and naked shenanigans in Maui," Gabriel promised. "Soon as I stop the whole world destruction thing."

Sam had to grin at that. "Fine. Deal. Do you know which of your brothers you're going after?"

"Yeah, I just have to find him," Gabriel grumbled. "He's in something he doesn't understand, and he's young, for us, anyway. If I can get to him in time, we'll have another ally and I might avoid the awkward conversation that would be introducing you to my older brother."

"Good plan," Sam agreed. "Call me back when you find him, okay? I know someone who would love to meet him."

Something about Gabriel's tone made it sound like he was grinning. "Oh, believe me, I'm sure he will."

Sam hung up the phone and turned back to see Dean and Bobby both staring at him with raised eyebrows and speculative expressions.

"So..." Dean began, trailing off.

"Okay, look. I'm going to explain, and I need you to listen, not freak out or anything, okay? I swear, everything's good, it's just kind of complicated." Sam ran a hand through his hair distractedly, noting that it had managed to grow without him really noticing.

"All right, go ahead," Dean nodded.

"So, remember how I had a friend I was texting before...?" Sam didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to bring up Hell just yet.

"Yeah," Dean affirmed. "You never said who it was."

Sam chuckled. "Yeah. Okay. God, this is going to sound bad. It was the Trickster."

There was a pause, then Bobby looked like a storm cloud and Dean looked like he was going to burst something.

"As in the one who killed me repeatedly?" Dean demanded.

Sam just nodded. "At first he was just insulting me, because he was mad that I didn't learn the lesson he was trying to teach me with that whole experience. After awhile though, he was just kind of watching us hunt, and giving me a running commentary. It was random, mostly pointless, sometimes helpful, and even funny. At first I was annoyed, but after awhile I kind of enjoyed it, and eventually we just ended up as friends. I don't even really know how or when, it was just kind of there."

Dean's face was cycling through emotions, but he remembered Sam's plea to listen to everything before reacting. "Okay, so you made friends with a monster. Go on."

"God, Dean, he's not a...whatever. Anyway, up until New Harmony, we would chat on and off all the time. He finally told me that he was the Norse god Loki." Sam grinned at the memory, remembering how excited he'd been in spite of himself.

Dean's lips twitched. "I think I actually remember that. It was after we'd gotten that whisky ice cream. You were really excited about something, but wouldn't share with the class. So, you guys became friends because he gave you nerdgasms?"

Sam thought about correcting that to real orgasms, just to see the look on Dean's face, but they weren't far enough in the story yet for that, so he just made a face at his brother instead. "Anyway," he emphasized, "After New Harmony I stopped talking to him. Bobby too," He threw Bobby an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry for that. I wasn't really thinking all that clearly. Eventually, Loki caught up with me after I'd had a few close calls, and he told me that I was spiraling, and he was going to stop it. Turned out that meant taking me to his villa in Italy."

Dean blinked. "You were in Italy? The whole time?"

"He wanted to teach me to appreciate life and not be so reckless, which admittedly was a lesson I needed to learn," Sam acknowledged. "He taught me how to enjoy myself again, and I helped him relearn what a moral compass was, and we got along well."

"Okay, so then what happened? Something happened, I can feel it." Dean was leaning forward, attention rapt.

"Uh...well, we had two big turning point events," Sam hedged.

"Uh-huh," Dean prompted, clearly waiting for an answer.

"Fine. We kissed, and it kind of snowballed from there." Sam blurted, not sure how to tactfully relay that information.

"You...with...a god?" Dean finally managed to get out.

Bobby snorted. "That explains the love 'em and leave 'em comment. I'm guessing you weren't expecting to wake up in my guest bed."

Sam blushed and shook his head. "Yeah, I'm not going into details on that."

"Are you even gay?" Dean asked, confused.

"I don't think so," Sam admitted. "I'm pretty sure it's just him." His mind provided the word halosexual, which he immediately decided he was never going to say out loud.

"What was the other turning point?" Bobby asked, one eyebrow raised.

Sam blew out a breath. "Okay, this is the part you won't believe, so trust me when I say I'm not kidding, and this is all very serious."

"Okay..." Dean looked concerned again.

"He's really the archangel Gabriel." Sam rushed out, gnawing on his lip immediately out of nervousness. This was a lot to dump on his family all at once.

"There's no such thing," Dean and Bobby said in unison, not even looking at each other when they realized it, focused entirely on Sam.

"I'm deadly serious," Sam assured them. "There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, which we can go into later, but Gabe took me off the playing field a few months ago partly to save me, but also to stop some really whack stuff from going down. The Host have some pretty dangerous plans."

Getting that Sam was serious, Dean slowly nodded, processing everything. "So, I died, you got kind of reckless, a god kidnapped you, you turned out to be gay for that god, and then he turned out to be an angel that was trying to save the world?"

"Um, yes?" Sam tried, not sure if Dean was serious or not.

"Geez, kid, you don't do things by halves, do you?" Bobby muttered. "When do we get to meet this angel?"

"Archangel," Sam corrected out of habit. "When he finds the angel that saved Dean."

Dean sat up straighter. "An angel pulled me out?" He asked, incredulous.

"That's what Gabe said," Sam confirmed. "It makes sense. Gabe's trying to track him down now. He'll call when he finds him." Sam held up the phone and tapped it with his finger. "Hopefully soon, since you coming back is apparently a sign of Heaven trying to get their plans rolling, and we need to steer clear."

"Okay, fill me in on that," Bobby requested with a questioning expression. "What exactly are we avoiding?"

Sam blew out a breath. "That's another long story," he sighed.

"Apparently we have awhile," Dean pointed out. "Might as well be informed by the time your boyfriend gets back."

Sam blushed again, but nodded. "You're right. We might want more beer though. There's a lot of stuff going on that we weren't even aware of."

Bobby nodded, standing and heading for the fridge. "More beer, then world destruction. Sounds like my kind of day."


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note:**

**I have been insanely busy, or this would have been out by now. This chapter, last chapter, and the next chapter were practically joined together as one in my head when I planned everything out, and I was super excited about them, so I can't believe it took me a whole other week to get this out. Ah well, here it is!**

**Thanks to hpfreak1993, MiraLadyofNerds, better-in-black-since-1234, ChloeJP, FamousNoOne, gylfie9, FireChildSlytherin5, ToxicTenshi, aLoggedInReader, annburgum, Mira, Annie, Niamh, and yuffb for their reviews on chapter 17!**

* * *

**Chapter 18 - Meet The Family (Again)**

Sam tapped absentmindedly on his beer bottle, looking out the open doorway at the scrapyard, not really looking at anything specific. They'd hashed out everything Sam knew about the planned apocalypse, and Bobby had gone off to his library to do what he did best - research. Dean had decided he needed some time to process, and was outside tinkering with the Impala. Sam was trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing in the meantime.

Eventually, Sam gave up on waiting and strolled out to the Impala, where Dean was sitting against the hood looking contemplative. Taking a seat next to him, Sam passed him a fresh drink and commented casually, "You're taking this all pretty well."

Dean huffed a laugh. "Well, not that I ever exactly expected to come back, but if I had, I wouldn't have been expecting the whole gay-for-angel plus impending apocalypse thing. I'm not sure I've completely processed that yet."

"I figure as long as you don't try and stab him when he shows up, we can work on everything else," Sam replied dryly. Dean stabbing Gabriel was a legitimate concern. Not that it would hurt the archangel, but Sam would rather avoid working him into a smiting mood if at all possible.

Chuckling at that, Dean nodded. "I can try," he offered.

They were quiet for a moment, Dean still thinking and Sam trying to figure out a way to broach the subject of where Dean had been. "Listen..." He trailed off, then started again. "Do you want to...talk about it?"

It was clear Dean knew what he was talking about, and he shook his head. "Not really. It's...well, I'm not there, and I don't want to go back, even in my head, you know? Let's just leave it where it is for now. I don't remember that well anyway." He coughed once, clearing his throat, and took a swig of beer.

Sam was pretty damn sure that was a lie, but decided not to push it. "I wonder what he's like, the angel that saved you," he mused. "Gabe didn't really say anything, just that he was young for an angel."

"What's young for an angel?" Dean returned, raising an eyebrow.

"Good point," Sam admitted. "I don't even know how old Gabe is, honestly."

Dean suddenly grinned broadly. "So is he like a dirty old man and you're his boy toy?"

Sam gave him a shove, almost knocking him off the car. "Shut up, Dean."

"Shouldn't there be laws against defiling angels?" Dean mused, still grinning.

"Seriously, shut up!" Sam scolded, flushing red and swatting at his brother. "It's more like...I don't even know how to describe it, but it's important, you know? Like, there's some element about our relationship that makes it better than anything else I could ever have, and I don't even know how to make that sound less corny, but it just is what it is."

Noting Sam's serious tone, Dean nodded thoughtfully. "Still weird to think about," He admitted after a moment.

"I was as surprised as you are, and I'm the one that kissed him first," Sam pointed out wryly.

"Really? You made the first move?" Dean cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Interesting. Did you have a big gay freakout or anything?"

Sam gave him a look. "You know, technically he's not actually a guy. Angels are genderless."

"Huh. Well, he's still got a -" Dean started.

Sam cut him off. "Yeah, and we're so not having that conversation."

After a beat, Dean nodded. "Good idea."

They were quiet again, then Sam started chuckling. At Dean's questioning look, he sighed and said, "It's just that back when I still let myself hope I could do something to get you out, none of the conversations I envisioned having with you went like this."

"I guess not," Dean acknowledged. "Am I going to get to have the whole 'hurt my baby brother and you're dead' talk with your boyfriend, then?" He grinned again, dodging Sam's swipe.

"God, Dean, don't even. It'll make my life so much easier if you two can get along." Sam rolled his eyes and prayed to a God he knew from Gabriel wasn't exactly home, hoping against all hope that he wouldn't have to pry sharp implements away from his brother and his archangel when they finally ended up in the same room.

"When do I get to meet him anyway?" Dean asked, glancing around as if expecting the archangel in question to simply materialize because he was being discussed.

"You've already met," Sam pointed out, quirking one eyebrow.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Dude, me stabbing him in the chest and him killing me on repeat don't count as us meeting."

Sam opened his mouth to respond to that, but someone else beat him to it.

"You've got a point. Sorry about that, by the way. I mean, I know you don't remember, but hey, might as well start off on the right foot." Gabriel grinned innocently as both Winchesters whirled to see him, giving them a little wave.

"Gabe!" Sam bolted up off the Impala, reaching the archangel in a single step and pulling him into a hug, ignoring the look of mild surprise on Dean's face.

"Hey, Samsquatch," Gabriel said gently, pulling back slightly and giving Sam a soft kiss, before shifting Sam to his side, keeping an arm around his waist. "Sorry for ditching you this morning without warning. Never again, promise."

"Good," Sam said firmly, giving him a half hearted glare. Relenting slightly, he asked, "Did you find your brother?"

Gabriel's expression brightened. "Yep!"

Dean looked around obviously and back at Gabriel, raising an eyebrow. "And?"

"He's not here yet," Gabriel pointed out, his tone disparaging. "He needed to find a vessel first. Don't worry, he's coming. I've still got some pretty senior authority, even if nobody's seen me since before writing was invented."

"What do you mean a vessel?" Dean asked, looking concerned. "Like what, a host? Like demons?"

"No, angels need permission," Gabriel corrected. "He's already found someone, he's just doing the paperwork, more or less."

"What, so you're possessing some poor bastard?" Dean accused, looking at Sam now like he'd done something terrible.

"No!" Gabriel scowled, looking offended. "I made this vessel myself, thank you very much. I'm pretty pleased with it."

"Why did you make your own?" Sam asked, curious. They'd never actually had this conversation before, and he found himself intrigued by the idea that Gabriel had essentially formed his own body for his own purposes.

Gabriel shrugged. "It's insanely difficult and not really allowed, but it also means this body doesn't degrade, like a normal vessel would over time, and it can't be tracked by the Host. Even when I use my grace, I'm not detectable without a serious event flaring a warning that I'm here. I wanted to hide, so I made myself a body to hide in."

"That's all very interesting," Dean butted in, sounding less than enthralled, "but your buddy that rescued me will have some guy stuck in the body with him?"

"Brother," Gabriel corrected him. "And no, that's not exactly how it works. The vessel will be largely dormant. At any rate, it shouldn't be a concern. As I said, he'll get permission, and then we have to stop the rest of my brothers from launching the apocalypse. A big part of it isn't currently possible with Samsquatch here off the playing field, but I don't want to take any chances."

Sam stepped in before Dean could derail the conversation again. "When will he be here?"

"Soon," Gabriel offered, raising his hands broadly to indicate he wasn't sure. "I vote we go update the protections on the house while we wait. There's some stuff I need to show you, for your own safety."

"Warding sounds good," Dean acknowledged, jumping up off the Impala. "Bobby will want to be there for that. I'll find him."

"Oh yeah, I remember the old guy!" Gabriel enthused with a grin. "He tried to stab me too!"

"Well, here's hoping he doesn't try again," Sam said pointedly. "Behave yourself? Starting with not calling Bobby 'the old guy.'"

Gabriel pouted. "You're no fun, kiddo." At Sam's stern glance he rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll keep the snark to a minimum. Happy?"

"For now." Sam waited until Dean was further ahead of them before adding, "I'll be happier when you make good on the whole Maui promise."

"As soon as I'm convinced the world isn't about to burn," Gabriel affirmed. "Let's start with protecting the house."

Dean entered the house first, heading for Bobby's main library room, calling out, "Hey, Bobby! Come meet Sam's boyfriend! He wants to show us some new wards for the house."

After a moment, Bobby came into view, evaluating Sam and Gabriel, who were now holding hands as they stood in the entryway. "It's going to take me awhile to get used to that," he muttered. "All right, feathers, what've you got for me?"

With a grin at the nickname, Gabriel moved forward to start tracing symbols for Bobby, explaining what each one did as he went. "This stuff will still let me in and out, since I'm not someone you need to worry abut, and any of my siblings I choose to let in I can rearrange the wards for. In the meantime, you can basically angel-proof the house, which should keep Sam and Dean safe."

"I'm still working on the whole angel thing," Bobby admitted gruffly.

"I'd prove it, but I'm assuming you like having eyes," Gabriel commented nonchalantly.

Bobby gaped at him for a second, then his expression changed to eye the archangel shrewdly. "Jury's still out on you, but I'm not reaching for my shotgun yet."

Sam shot Bobby a look, but the older hunter ignored him.

Turning to Sam, Bobby pointed and said, "If you plan on doing anything in my house, boy, you make sure you get your superpowered boyfriend to sound proof the room first, understand?"

"God, Bobby!" Sam blurted, blushing furiously. Dean was behind him cackling in response.

Bobby shrugged and picked up the sheets of paper Gabriel and sketched on. "I've got some work to do, apparently, so you can either help me or hit the books."

"I volunteer for warding," Dean said quickly, snatching some of Bobby's papers. "Let the lovebirds do the research."

Gabriel made a face, but Sam nodded. "That's fine. We'll call for you if we find anything." Turning towards Bobby's library, Sam towed Gabriel down the hallway.

"I vote we make out instead of read," Gabriel said casually.

Sam faltered a step, but kept walking. "How about we balance the two?" He asked dryly.

Gabriel considered it for a moment and nodded. "I can work with that."


End file.
